UC-NRLF 


SB 

249 
A87 
1881 
MAIN 


W  tf 


ADBRESS 


OF 


EDWAED    ATKINSON 

II 


OF  BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS, 


GIVEN    IN    ATLANTA,   GEOBGIA, 


IN   OCTOBER,  1880, 


FOR  THE  PROMOTION   OF  AN   INTERNATIONAL  COTTON 
EXHIBITION. 


BOSTON  : 
A.   WILLIAMS    AND    COMPANY, 

No.  283  WASHINGTON  STREET. 
1881. 


The  organization  of  this  association,  comprising  the  most  intelligent  and 
progressive  men  in  the  cotton  trade,  was  greeted  with  enthusiasm  throughout 
the  country.  It  became  apparent  at  once  that  the  project  would  be  pushed 
vigorously,  and  would  redound  to  the  vast  benefit  of  our  leading  national 
industry.  Following  the  plan  laid  down  by  Mr.  Atkinson,  the  exhibition  is 
intended  to  represent  every  thing  that  concerns  the  growth  of  the  plant,  the 
fertilization  and  treatment  of  the  crop,  the  handling  of  the  staple  in  every 
shape,  and  the  commercial  disposal  of  raw  cotton ;  and  also  its  manufacture 
in  every  form,  the  kind  of  mills  and  machinery  for  such  purposes,  and  all 
that  the  most  recent  invention  may  afford  for  the  improvement  of  these  pro- 
cesses. Machinery  of  all  the  classes  demanded  in  cultivation  first,  and  next 
in  ginning,  baling,  packing,  and  compressing  raw  cotton,  belongs  to  the  first 
division  of  machinery  exhibits.  The  machinery  requisite  for  the  manu- 
facture of  cotton,  with  the  best  form  of  mills,  the  most  economical  applica- 
tions of  power,  and  all  the  details  of  subsequent  manufacture,  constitute  a 
great  department  in  which  there  is  a  world  of  interest.  The  cotton  plants 
and  fibres  of  all  countries,  and  the  whole  line  of  cotton  fabrics,  with  com- 
parisons of  primitive  methods  and  present  improved  processes,  will  form  a 
feature  of  great  interest  and  value.  Intelligence  of  the  utmost  consequence 
upon  all  these  subjects  will  be  imparted.  The  prospectus  will  shortly  be 
issued,  setting  forth  minutely  all  desirable  information. 

Many  letters  have  already  been  received  from  nearly  every  part  of  the  world, 
and  the  only  doubt  that  now  remains  is  about  the  probability  of  having 
space  enough  to  properly  represent  all  that  will  be  sent  to  exhibit. 

Such  an  exhibition  cannot  fail  to  do  a  great  service.  It  will  impress  forci- 
bly upon  the  minds  of  the  world  that  the  South  has  a  great  future  before  it, 
which,  with  proper  aid  and  encouragement,  it  has  the  enterprise  and  good 
judgment  to  cultivate  in  a  broad  and  liberal  manner.  The  exposition  which 
Mr.  Atkinson  has  proposed  will  be  an  immeasurable  blessing  to  the  South ; 
and  it  will  doubtless  stretch  its  hands  out  in  the  liberal  course  now  open  to 
it,  becoming  prosperous  in  its  own  right  through  a  liberal  development  of  its 
own  resources. 

JOHN  W.  RYCKMAN, 
Secretary  International  Cotton  Exposition  Association. 

The  writer  may  be  permitted  to  submit  a  few  words  more  upon  one 
branch  of  the  subject  of  his  address,  about  which  there  has  been  con- 
siderable misconception;  viz.,  his  views  upon  the  establishment  of 
the  cotton  manufacture  in  the  cotton  States.  His  Southern  friends 
appear  to  have  been  somewhat  disappointed  because  he  will  hot 
commit  himself  to  a  recommendation  of  Southern  cotton  factories  as 
an  investment  for  Northern  capital. 

He  would  have  preferred  .to  omit  all  reference  to  this  matter,  either 
in  the  address  or  at  the  present  time,  had  it  not  been  in  a  measure 
forced  upon  him.  The  editor  of  a  paper  in  New  Orleans  desired 
him  to  write  an  article  upon  cotton  manufactures  in  the  South,  which 
he  declined  to  do ;  adding  that  he  could  not  conscientiously  recom- 
mend the  investment  of  capital  in  Southern  cotton  mills.  This  note 
was  not  intended  for  publication,  but  was  published,  and  caused  a 
good  deal  of  discussion  ;  the  writer's  position  as  special  agent  of  the 
census  on  cotton  manufactures  giving  it  an  undue  prominence. 

The  proposed  exhibition  could  not  have  a  more  urgent  reason  than 
but  to  determine  this  question.  The  manufacture  of  cotton  is  a  unit ; 


it  consists  of  three  distinct  departments  :  to  wit,  1st,  the  preparation 
of  the  cotton  for  the  spinner  ;  2d,  spinning  ;  3d,  weaving  and  finishing. 

The  preparation  of  the  cotton  must  be  conducted  near  the  place 
where  the  cotton  is  grown  :  it  must  therefore  be  diffused  over  a  wide 
area.  It  offers  a  vast  field  for  invention,  improvement,  and  for  profit. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  spinning  and  weaving  of  cotton  in  factories 
tends,  iix  all  countries,  to  concentration  in  special  places.  Climatic 
conditions  may  have  much  to  do  with  the  first  beginnings  ;  but  after 
a  time  the  whole  training  and  habit  of  the  people  are  directed  to  the 
work,  —  all  the  subsidiary  empk>3Tments  are  established,  a  market 
exists  for  the  waste,  and  the  subdivision  of  labor  is  carried  to  the 
point  of  utmost  economy.  All  this  is  necessary  in  a  business  that  is 
so  close,  that  the  profit  or  loss  in  the  larger  part  of  the  work  turns 
on  a  quarter  of  a  cent  a  yard. 

The  special  districts  in  which  the  cotton  manufacture  has  become 
established  are  those  in  which  the  mean  temperature  gives  the  stimu- 
lus needed  for  the  continuous  work  of  the  factory,  and  where  in-door 
work  is  more  consistent  with  comfort  than  out-door  labor. 

It  is  true  that,  many  years  since,  the  daughters  of  the  farmers  of 
New  England  constituted  the  most  numerous  'class  in  the  cotton  fac- 
tories, but  they  have  long  since  gone  into  easier  and  better  paid 
occupations  ;  and  the  factories  would  now  be  unable  to  compete,  even 
in  the  relatively  dense  population  of  the  North,  were  it  not  for  the 
constant  supply  of  French-Canadian  operatives. 

If  this  difficulty  obtains  in  the  North  because  of  the  competition 
for  labor  in  the  vast  diversity  of  the  less  conspicuous  branches  of 
work,  how  much  greater  may  it  not  be  in  the  South  ?  The  Southern 
friends  of  the  writer  may  not  be  averse  to  accepting  an  opinion  that 
the  South  has  a  vast  field  of  wprk  in  the  manufacturing  and  mechanic 
arts  that  promises  a  much  greater  profit  than  the  manufacture  of 
cotton  fabrics  can  offer  for  many  years  to  come. 

Let  us  consider  some  of  these,  first  admitting  fully  that  the  cli- 
matic conditions  of  Atlanta  and  throughout  the  Piedmont  district  may 
be  favorable  to  the  cotton  manufacture.  There  ai?e  many  other  rea- 
sons why  many  other  branches  of  industry  should  precede  the  textile 
factory. 

Ought  not  capital  to  be  first  used  in  the  undertakings  that  will  give 
employment  to  the  largest  number  of  persons  at  the  highest  wages  ? 

For  instance,  the  largest  tannery  in  the  United  States  is  now  situ- 
ated at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.  Why  should  the  six  hundred  hides  that 
are  daily  sent  there  from  New  York,  to  reach  the  supply  of  oak-bark, 
furnished  by  the  woods  of  Tennessee,  be  sent  back  to  the  North  to  be 
made  into  boots  and  shoes  ?  It  requires  an  investment  of  eight  hun- 
dred to  twelve  hundred  dollars  for  each  operative  employed  in  the  cot- 
ton factory,  less  than  four  hundred  dollars  in  a  boot  or  shoe  factory. 

A  few  comparisons  may  be  useful  to  make  this  point  clear.  Tho 
industrial  census  of  Massachusetts  of  1875  was  very  accurately 
taken.  The  number  of  cotton  spindles  then  existing  was  somewhat 
less  than  now  ;  but  the  data  will  serve  as  well  for  comparison  as  any 
that  could  now  be  compiled. 


The  capital  then  invested  in  cotton  mills  was,  in  round  figures, 

The  persons  employed 

Average  capital  to  each  operative      .         . 

Average  earnings  of  each  operative  per  year     . 

Value  of  product 


$64,000,000 

60,176 

$1,060 

$334 

$78,000,000 


BOOTS    AND    SHOES. 


Capital  invested 

Persons  employed 

Average  capital  to  each  person  . 

Average  earnings  to  each  operative 

Value  of  product 


$18,700,000 

48,090 

$390 

$455 

$89,400,000 


LEATHER. 

Capital  invested        ...... 

Persons  employed 

Average  capital  to  each  person  .... 
Average  earnings  to  each  ..... 
Value  of  product 

METALS,    METALLIC    GOODS,    MACHINES, 

Capital  invested 

Persons  employed 

Average  capital  to  each  person 

Average  earnings  to  each  person 

Value  of  products     ...... 


.      %  .      $8,400,000 

6,620 

$1,310 

$580 

.    $23,700,000 

AND    MACHINERY. 

.  $35,800,000 
27,124 
$1,320 


$44,300,000 


But  it  is  in  the  lesser  arts  that  a  small  capital  serves  for  the  em- 
plo}Tment  of  a  large  number  of  persons  at  full  wages. 

In  1865  we  had  the  following  averages  and  numbers  in  Massachu- 
setts :  — 


Agricultural  implements  . 
Artisans'  tools          .... 
Carriages  and  wagons 
Clocks  and  watches .... 
Clothing  (in  special  establishments) 

Furniture 

Musical  instruments 

Miscellaneous 


Employed.          Earnings. 


1,176 
1,132 
3,003 
1,106 

13,702 
5,800 
2,095 

18,676 


$680 
646 
622 
707 
446 
570 
866 
426 


These  are  but  a  portion.  Outside  of  this  list  may  be  found  the 
thirt}r  thousand  blacksmiths,  carpenters,  tinsmiths,  coopers,  harness- 
makers,  plumbers,  roofers,  and  other  artisans,  employing  but  a  small 
capital,  and  each  earning,  on  the  average,  five  hundred  and  eighty 
dollars  per  year. 

Since  1875  the  specie  standard  has  been  restored,  prosperity  has 
returned,  and  all  these  earnings  must  be  increased  by  ten  to  twenty- 
live  per  cent ;  in  some  branches  even  more. 


It  is  these  lesser  occupations,  requiring  but  small  capital,  managed 
by  individual  owners,  and  paying  high  wages,  that  build  up  States 
and  create  towns  and  cities. 

Iron  is  now  made  at  Chattanooga  at  a  less  cost  than  in  Pennsylva- 
nia ;  and  both  there  and  in  Atlanta  the  use  of  iron  is  rapidly  increas- 
ing. Where  are  to  be  the  shops  in  which  the  tools  of  the  new  South 
are  to  be  made? 

Where  are  to  be  the  Southern  manufactories  of  clothing,  a  branch 
of  work  that  gives  employment  to  vast  numbers  of  Northern  women 
in  their  own  homes,  besides  thousands  who  are  employed  in  the  cities? 
Skilful  sewing  women  earn  much  higher  wages  than  factory  opera- 
tives, and  the  only  "poor  sewing  women  "  are  those  who  don't  know 
how  to  sew.  There  were  thirty-one  thousand  women  employed  in 
their  own  homes  in  Massachusetts,  in  1875,  in  the  manufacture  of 
clothing,  straw  goods,  whips,  &c. 

The  deposits  in  the  savings  banks  of  Massachusetts,  mostly  be- 
longing to  her  working  people,  amount  to  $220,000,000  at  the  pres- 
ent time. 

With  the  extension  of  the  common  school,  and  the  rapid  increase 
of  an  industrious  and  thrifty  body  of  citizens  in  the  South  engaged 
in  these  necessary  pursuits,  capital  will  be  rapidly  absorbed,  and 
there  will  be  no  sure  supply  of  operatives  for  cotton  mills  on  any 
large  scale,  because  other  pursuits,  offering  conditions  of  life  more 
consistent  with  the  conditions  of  a  climate  in  which  out-door  work, 
or  pursuits  that  do  not  require^  continuous  labor  ten  to  twelve  hours 
a  day  and  three  hundred  days  in  a  year,  will  be  open  to  all. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  most  important  branch  of  the  cotton  manu- 
facture —  that  of  ginning,  packing,  and  preparing  cotton  for  the  use  of 
the  factory  —  must  continue  to  be  done  in  the  South,  and  every  mil- 
lion dollars  spent  in  the  right  manner  in  this  department  will  produce 
more  wealth  and  do  more  to  build  up  the  cotton  States  than  any  ten 
million  expended  in  cotton  factories.  In  this  connection,  the  com- 
munication to  be  found  in  the  Appendix,  lately  made  by  the  under- 
signed to  "  The  Planter's  Journal"  of  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  will  not  be 
without  interest. 

It  is  in  order  that  these  opportunities  for  immediate  profit  ma}r  be 
made  apparent  that  the  cotton  exhibition  should  be  held. 

There  are  two  corporations  in  New  England  that  operate  forty  per 
cent  more  cotton  spindles  and  looms  than  all  the  fifty  cotton  factories 
of  Georgia  combined  ;  and  each  of  these  is  adding  more  spindles  to 
its  present  capacity,  relying  in  part  for  its  market  upon  the  greater 
purchasing  power  of  its  Southern  consumers,  as  they  engage  in  the 
diversified  occupations  now  open  to  them  since  the  curse  of  slavery 
was  removed  from  their  section.  There  are  four  Northern  estab- 
lishments operating  more  spindles  and  looms  than  are  contained  in 
all  the  cotton  mills  south  of  Maryland.  Northern  manufacturers  do 
not  fear  Southern  competition,  but  will  promote  the  extension  of 
cotton  manufacturing  as  much  as  good  judgment  will  permit.  It 
would  be  greatly  to  their  advantage  to  have  a  solid  body  of  men  in 


8 

the  South  interested  like  themselves  in  promoting  better  ginning, 
baling,  and  handling  cotton  as  it  comes  from  the  field. 

In  another  generation  or  two  the  time  may  have  come  for  numerous 
and  large  textile  factories  in  the  Piedmont  district ;  but  for  the  pres- 
ent no  increase  of  cotton  spindles  in  the  cotton  States  is  likety  to 
keep  pace  with  the  increasing  demand  for  cotton  fabrics  of  the  same 
section. 

Let  the  citizens  of  the  Southern  States  visit  the  North,  and  exam- 
ine its  methods  of  industry,  and  it  will  soon  become  apparent  to 
them  in  which  direction  their  attention  should  be  turned,  and  that, 
although  no  one  can  undervalue  the  importance  of  the  cotton  manu- 
facture as  it  is  now  established  in  the  North,  it  is  yet  a  relatively  un- 
important factor  in  the  vast  field  of  her  manufactures  ;  the  value 
of  its  product  even  in  Massachusetts,  where  forty-five  per  cent  of  all 
the  cotton  spindles  of  the  country  are  to  be  found,  being  less  than 
one-sixth  the  value  of  the  manufactures  of  that  State,  and  giving 
employment  to  a  less  proportion  of  its  population  of  working  age. 

The  greatest  need  of  the  present  time  is,  that  the  citizens  of  the 
two  sections  that  have  been  so  widely  parted  until  recent  times, 
should  visit  each  other,  learn  the  respective  methods  and  opportuni- 
ties of  each  State,  and  become  convinced  that  in  their  mutual  or 
inter-dependence  is  the  foundation  of  their  true  union. 

It  is  in  order  to  promote  such  intercourse  that  the  undersigned  feels 
most  solicitous  that  the  cotton  exhibition  shall  be  held. 

The  Southern  farmers  are  as  little  informed  about  the  cotton  manu- 
facture of  the  North  as  the  operatives,  and  even  some  of  the  em- 
ployers of  the  North,  are  in  regard  to  the  production  of  the  cotton 
fibre. 

Let  each  class  learn  where  it  can  most  profitably  excel.  The  rail- 
road has  almost  eliminated  distance  ;  and  each  section  that  serves 
the  other  best,  serves  itself  also.  In  teaching  this  lesson,  the  cotton 
exhibition  will  be  a  great  schoolhouse  full  of  instruction. 

Slaveiy  repelled  where  liberty  unites.  In  the  time  that  now  seems 
so  distant,  no  Southern  man  could  learn  the  open  secret  of  the  North, 
or,  if  he  learned  it,  he  could  not  appty  it  in  a  section  where  skill  and 
education  were  forbidden,  and  where  it  was  a  felony  to  teach  the 
laborer  to  read  ;  no  Northern  man  could  cariy  his  rights  as  a  citizen 
of  the  country  into  any  slave  State,  or  attempt  to  assert  them  there 
without  danger  to  his  life,  nor  could  he  study  the  sj'stem  of  labor  as 
a  mere  question  of  econom3T  without  the  risk  of  being  hanged  as  a  spy. 

All  these  malignant  conditions  have  passed  away.  The  active  Miul 
vigorous  men  born  of  the  new  South  refuse  to  be  controlled  am 
longer  by  the  Bourbons  of  that  section  ;  and  the  "  stalwarts  "  of  the 
North,  who  dare  not  trust  the  principle  of  liberty  to  work  its  just 
results,  are  being  themselves  classed  as  Bourbons  incapable  of  guid- 
ing or  directing  the  true  union  that  now  exists  in  this  Nation. 

EDWARD    ATKINSON. 

BBOOKLINE,  MASS.,  Jan.  13,  1881. 


ADDRESS    AT   ATLANTA. 


(Reprinted  from  "  The  Atlanta  Constitution,") 

GENTLEMEN,  —  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  assent  to  the  request 
of  some  of  your  number,  and  to  address  }TOU  on  the  subject  of  the 
proposed  exhibtition  to  be  devoted  to  cotton. 

When  I  planned  this  trip  it  was  intended  merel}7  for  a  change  and 
recreation :  but  I  received  a  telegram  from  Mr.  Kimball,  informing 
me  I  might  be  called  upon  to  speak  to  }Tou  ;  and  I  therefore  prepared 
this  address  in  the  short  time  left  me,  incorporating  with  it  a  state- 
ment previously  written,  which  I  intended  to  verify  on  this  visit  to 
the  South.  In  the  short  time  permitted  me,  I  had  no  time  to  prune 
it  or  to  smooth  its  rough  points  and  expressions  ;  and  I  am,  on  the 
whole,  glad  of  this.  When  you  challenge  a  Northern  man  to  speak 
to  you,  it  is  better  that  you  have  his  first  thought. 

The  kingdom  of  cotton  has  been  long  divided  ;  and,  as  it  has  been 
said  that  a  kingdom  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand,  I  have  re- 
ferred to  some  of  the  causes  of  its  former  division,  believing  that  a 
thorough  union  can  onty  be  promoted  by  a  full  discussion  of  the  facts 
and  methods  of  the  past,  the  changes  and  the  prosperity  of  the 
future. 

If  I  have  been  somewhat  sharp  in  the  points  I  have  made,  bear 
with  them,  remembering  that  I  only  speak  as  an  economist,  and  not  as 
a  party  politician.  When  we  who  are  business  men  take  a  firm  hold 
upon  political  questions,  and  try  men  and  measures  by  their  effect  on 
industry  and  commerce,  a  great  advance  in  the  true  science  of  politics 
will  have  been  made.  This  is  what  I  have  attempted  in  this  address. 

It  happens  to  have  fallen  to  me  to  suggest  that  such  an  exhibition 
devoted  to  cotton  should  be  held  ;  and ,  so  far  as  I  am  entitled  to  give 
an  opinion  as  to  the  best  place  to  hold  it,  I  now  give  it  in  favor  of  the 
cit}*  of  Atlanta.  [Loud  applause.]  At  first  I  thought  the  necessary 
combinations  could  be  made,  and  the  more  needful  contributions  of 
money  could  be  most  readily  obtained,  if  New  York  were  selected ; 
but  I  am  now  satisfied  that,  even  though  the  exhibition  may  not  be  on 
as  grand  a  scale  in  respect  to  cotton  machinery,  if  the  exhibition  is 
held  here,  it  will  be  more  complete  and  more  useful  in  all  that  relates 
to  the  cultivation  of  the  plant  and  to  the  preparation  of  the  seed  and 
fibre,  if  so  held  here. 

This  is  the  main  point,   and  it  is  also  more  important  for  our 


.       10 

Northern  manufacturers  to  come  here  than  it  is  even  for  }'ou  to  go 
North ;  and  they  will  come  to  this  not  too  distant  point  when  they 
might  not  be  able  to  go  farther. 

For  these  reasons,  and  for  many  others,  this  city  seems  to  be  the 
place.  It  is  flanked  on  all  sides  by  the  true  cotton  country,  and  it  is 
the  place  of  all  others  in  which  the  new  tools  and  implements,  the 
new  gins  and  presses,  the  new  oil  mills  and  the  like,  may  be  made  or 
distributed. 

But,  more  than  all,  it  is  the  railroad  as  well  as  the  manufacturing 
centre  of  a  section  that  may  soon  be  one  of  the  most  active  and  pro- 
gressive in  this  broad  land.  This  city  is  ceasing  to  be  provincial,  and 
is  becoming  cosmopolitan.  It  is  in  a  State  whose  credit  is  good,  in 
which  common  schools  are  actively  promoted,  and  in  which  even  the 
bluntest  of  free  speech  does  not  abate  the  welcome  that  is  extended 
to  the  citizens  of  any  State.  [Laughter  and  clapping  of  hands.] 

I  shall  use  this  right  in  the  freest  manner,  because  I  propose  to 
prove,  before  I  have  done,  that  success  in  secession  would  have  been 
the  greatest  economic  misfortune  to  Georgia  and  her  sister  cotton 
States,  and  that  the  first  fruits  of  personal  liberty,  already  gathered, 
are  but  the  shadow  of  what  is  yet  to  come. 

In  respect  to  the  plan  for  the  exhibition,  it  may  also  be  stated,  that, 
in  point  of  fact,  no  exhibition  is  needed  to  stimulate  the  rapid  devel- 
opment of  machinery  for  spinning  and  weaving  the  fibre  of  cotton. 
Improvements  in  this  branch  of  cotton  manufacturing  already*  proceed 
with  such  rapidity,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  keep  one  *end  of  a 
large  cotton  mill  up  to  a  first-class  standard  until  the  other  end  is 
finished  and  started  ;  and  airy  manufacturer  who  neglects  to  adopt 
the  improvements  that  almost  monthly  constitute  an  advance  in  some 
department  of  the  art,  will  become  bankrupt  in  ten  or  fifteen  years. 

It  happened  to  fall  to  me  to  be  the  treasurer  of  a  mill  for  whose 
use  the  first  u  slasher,"  so  called,  was  imported  from  England  in 
186G.  The  slasher  is  a  machine  for  sizing  or  starching  the  warp 
in  preparation  for  weaving  it,  and  it  took  the  place  of  the  so-called 
"dresser."  The  dresser  was  operated  in  a  room  at  a  constant  heat 
of  a  100°  to  110°,  and  in  an  atmosphere  saturated  with  the  steam 
given  off  by  sour  starch.  One  machine  attended  by  one  man  was 
needed  for  every  forty  or  fifty  looms.  The  slasher  is  operated  in  a 
cool,  well-ventilated  room ;  and  one  machine  attended  by  one  man, 
with  a  boy  to  aid  him,  will  serve  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  looms,  the  number  varying  with  the  description  of  the 
fabric.  This  is  the  most  marked  single  change  that  has  occurred 
within  my  experience.  Most  of  the  improvements  are  in  the  minor 
details,  and  their  full  effect  cannot  be  understood  except  by  a  com- 
parison of  one  somewhat  distant  period  with  another. 

In  order  that  my  comparison  ma}r  be  made  with  accurac}7,  periods 
must  be  chosen  in  which  the  money  b}T  which  the  cost  of  manufac- 
turing is  measured  has  been  true  inone}'.  It  is  useless  to  make  any 
comparison  of  the  ante-war  period  with  any  date  prior  to  Jan.  1, 
3879,  when  the  specie  standard  was  restored,  because  the  lawful 


11 

money  in  use  during  that  time  was  a  lie.  It  purported  to  be  a  dollar, 
but  was  nothing  but  a  deferred  and  depreciated  promise  of  a  dollar  ; 
and  any  comparison  of  wages,  prices,  or  conditions  of  a  paper-money 
period  with  a  period  in  which  true  money  is  in  use,  will  cheat  and 
mislead  the  man  who  makes  it,  just  as  such  money  cheats  the  man  or 
nation  that  uses  it.  You  cannot  even  get  at  true  data  by  converting 
the  currency  into  gold  for  the  purpose  of  comparison,  because  the  use 
of  a  vicious  currency  perverts  all  transactions,  steals  from  the  laborer 
a  part  of  the  fruits  of  his  labor,  and  conveys  it  to  one  who  has  done 
nothing  to  earn  it. 

In  the  words  of  one  of  the  great  patriots  of  the  Revolution,  —  in- 
convertible paper  money  worked  then  as  it  has  worked  with  us,  — 
*  *  it  perverted  the  morals  of  the  people  ;  it  destro}*ed  respect  for  the 
courts  ;  it  ruined  the  fortunes  of  those  who  trusted  most  in  it ;  it 
enervated  the  manufactures,  mechanic  arts,  and  agriculture  of  the 
county."  And  of  all  the  mighty  monsters  born  of  war  it  has  been 
the  most  difficult  to  overcome. 

Let  us  then  compare  the  periods  of  1840,  1860,  and  1880  in  re- 
spect to  the  conditions  of  spinning  and  weaving  the  coarse  and 
medium  cotton  fabrics  that  constitute  by  far  the  largest  consumption 
of  cotton,  that  are  the  most  useful,  and  that  are  the  easiest  to  make. 
In  each  of  these  3*ears  true  money  in  gold  coin  has  been  our  only 
standard  of  value. 

Since  1860  the  following  progress  has  been  made  in  one  branch  of 
cotton  manufacture,  from  which  a  rule  ina}r  be  deduced,  although  the 
changes  would  vary  in  respect  to  different  classes  of  fabrics,  as  they 
may  be  coarse,  medium,  or  fine. 

From  1860  to  1878,  at  which  latter  date  we  were  nearly  on  a  specie 
basis,  the  following  changes  occurred  in  a  large  mill :  — 

The  number  of  operatives  per  thousand  spindles  decreased  from. 
twent3*-six  and  one-half  to  fifteen,  or  fort}*- three  per  cent. 

The  cost  of  manufacturing  —  i.e.,  preparing,  carding,  spinning, 
and  weaving  —  decreased  twent3*-one  per  cent. 

The  wages  of  women  increased  twenty-five  per  cent. 

Since  1878  the  specie  standard  has  been  restored,  and  there  has 
been  a  large  advance  in  wages,  owing  to  the  restored  confidence  and 
prosperitj* ;  and  in  another  large  establishment  on  another  class  of 
goods  the  following  changes  have  taken  place  between  1860  and 
1880:  — 

Decrease  in  the  proportion  of  operatives  to  each  one  thousand 
spindles,  twenty-five  per  cent. 

Decrease  in  the  cost  of  preparing,  carding,  spinning,  and  weaving, 
fourteen  per  cent. 

Increase  in  women's  earning,  fifty  per  cent. 

Women  and  girls  constitute  a  trifle  under  three-fourths  of  the 
whole  number  of  persons  employed. 

Men's  wages  in  these  departments  that  require  special  skill  have 
advanced  in  the  same  or  greater  proportion. 

Common  labor  has  not  greatly  changed  since  1860. 


12 

It  is  the  misfortune  of  unskilled  labor  in  all  countries  and  at  all 
times  to  be  compelled  to  work  for  a  bare  subsistence. 

Since  1840  the  change  has  been  even  more  startling.  One  opera- 
tive, working  sixt}r  hours  per  week  in  1880,  turns  off  twice  the  num- 
ber of  yards  of  standard  sheeting  that  one  operative  could  produce 
in  1840,  working  seventy-two  hours  per  week. 

The  one  operative  of  to-day  receives  ver}r  nearly  as  much  wages  as 
the  two  did  in  1840,  and  actualty  more  than  the  two  did  then,  count- 
ing hour  for  hour,  while  each  gold  dollar  of  the  wages  of  1 880  will 
buy  more  comfort  and  luxury  than  each  gold  dollar  of  1840. 

One-half  of  this  progress  was  made  between  1840  and  1860,  and 
the  other  half  has  been  made  between  1860  and  1880,  in  spite  of  the 
distress  of  civil  war  and  the  corruption  of  inconvertible  paper  money. 

Now,  gentlemen  of  the  South,  I  am  going  to  use  free  speech  for  a 
purpose,  and  to  speak  some  plain  words  of  truth  and  soberness  to 
you.  I  shall  not  permit  myself  to  insult  you  by  admitting  even  into 
m}*  own  mind  that  I  cannot  speak  my  convictions,  and  ask  searching 
home  questions  here  with  as  much  independence  as  I  can  in  my  own 
little  native  town  in  Massachusetts,  If  any  one  here  objects  to  free 
speech,  let  him  do  it  now.  Thank  God,  that  time  has  gone  by  !  I 
speak  then  to  you  here  and  now  as  a  Republican  of  Republicans,  as 
an  Abolitionist  of  early  time,  a  Free-Soiler  of  later  date,  and  a  Repub- 
lican of  to-day  ;  but  I  also  speak,  and  yet  more  truly,  as  a  Democrat 
of  Democrats,  because  no  man  can  be  a  true  Democrat  who  does  not 
maintain  the  equal  rights  of  every  man,  without  distinction  of  race, 
color,  or  condition,  to  speak,  act,  and  vote  as  he  freely  chooses,  pro- 
vided that  by  such  acts  he  does  not  oppress  his  fellow-man,  or  commit 
an}r  injustice  upon  him.  [Applause.] 

Upon  this  righteous  foundation  this  nation  has  been  established. 
When  it  shall  have  been  fully  comprehended,  the  terms  of  North  and 
South,  of  East  and  West,  will  be  but  geographical  descriptions ;  the 
terms  will  make  no  separate  interests  or  ideas,  and  no  divided  alle- 
giance. 

One  in  laws,  and  one  in  customs ;  one  in  faith,  and  one  in  hope ; 
one  in  charity  for  the  mistakes  and  errors  of  each  and  of  all ;  one  in 
effort  to  overcome  the  prejudices  of  the  past ;  one  in  the  determina- 
tion to  make  our  whole  country  a  solid  nation,  "  the  promised  land  " 
for  the  oppressed  of  all  climes  and  of  all  races  of  men,  —  we  shall  then 
march  ever  onward  toward  the  prize  of  our  high  calling  among  the 
nations  of  the  world.  [Continued  applause.] 

But  let  us  not  be  diverted  from  our  practical  purpose.  What  we 
want  now  are  hard  facts  ;  and,  if  m}*  questions  seem  like  hard  knocks, 
let  the  sparks  that  fly  light  us  on  our  way  to  just  conclusions. 

You  will  observe  that  half  our  progress  in  the  North  in  the  art  of 
cotton  spinning  and  weaving  from  1840  to  1880  was  made  in  the  first 
half  of  that  period  ;  and,  as  it  has  been  in  cotton  manufacturing,  so 
has  it  been  in  every  other  branch  of  the  manufacturing  and  the 
mechanic  arts  in  the  North. 

Now,  gentlemen,  how  much  progress  did  you  make  in  your  depart- 


13 

ment  of  the  cotton  manufacture, — in  the  art  of  raising  cotton  and 
preparing  cotton  for  the  spinner  from  1840  to  1860?  I  don't  wish  to 
impute  ignorance  or  incapacity  to  you ;  I  know  as  well  as  you  do 
that  some  of  your  planters  had  as  much  skill  and  intelligence  as  any 
men  engaged  in  working  land  in  the  world  ;  I  know  how  you  in- 
creased 3'our  crops  :  but  I  ask  you,  What  reduction  in  the  cost  of  rais- 
ing cotton  did  you  as  a  people  make  in  that  period  ? 

How  much  did  3*011  change  and  improve  your  ploughs,  your  hoes, 
and  3*our  cultivators  ? 

What  did  3Tou  learn  about  fertilizers  ? 

What  did  3*011  know  about  phosphates  ? 

Was  each  cotton  gin  better  than  the  last? 

Did  each  little  improvement  emanate  from  one  of  your  own  skilled 
mechanics  who  worked  the  cotton  gin,  and  could  not  help  trying  to 
improve  it? 

Was  each  new  gin-house  safer  and  better  than  the  last? 

Did  you  apply  your  power  with  more  economy? 

Was  each  press  more  powerful  ? 

Was  each  year's  crop  better  ginned  and  handled,  better  packed 
and  sent  to  market,  subject  to  le^s  waste  than  the  one  previous  ? 

You  may  say  "yes,"  and  attempt  to  prove  your  case  by  special 
examples.  I  admit  them  :  they  only  strengthen  the  rule  ;  they  only 
proved  how  certainly  improvements  could  be  made,  and  by  their  very 
contrast  made  the  general  inefficiency  of  your  former  methods  more 
marked. 

There  can  be  no  general  progress  where  the  laborer  is  not  worthy 
of  his  hire  ;  and  that  land  will  always  be  accursed  where  the  man 
who  earns  his  daily  bread  by  the  work  of  his  own  hands  is  not  honored. 

When  slaver3T  ended,  not  only  were  blacks  made  free  from  the 
bondage  imposed  by  others,  but  whites  as  well  were  redeemed  from 
the  bondage  they  had  imposed  upon  themselves. 

In  that  dark  and  distant  past,  did  your  cotton  land  improve  in 
product  every  year?  or,  to  quote  the  words  of  Henry  A.  Wise  of 
Virginia,  "  Did  not  your  niggers  skin  the  land,  and  your  white  men 
skin  the  nigger's  ?  ' ' 

To  quote  again  from  Dr.  Cloud  of  Alabama:  "  Didn't  3*011  gully 
your  hillsides,  and  blast  your  prairies?  " 

Why  do  I  ask  you  these  questions,  and,  as  it  were,  rub  you  on  the 
raw? 

Not  only  because  it  is  the  right  of  every  man  in  the  country  to  use 
free  speech,  but  in  this  case  it  is  necessary. 

We  are  considering  a  problem  in  the  science  of  political  economy ; 
we  are  contrasting  two  systems  of  labor ;  we  need  to  base  our  future 
practice  on  past  experience.  There  is  no  more  room  for  passion  or 
feeling  in  the  case  than  there  would  be  in  considering  which  kind  of 
land  would  produce  the  most  cotton. 

When  you  study  the  past  system  of  slave-labor  with  the  present 
system  of  free  labor,  irrespective  of  all  personal  considerations,  you 
will  be  mad  down  to  the  soles  of  your  boots  to  think  that  you  ever 


14 

tolerated  it ;  and,  when  3-011  have  come  to  this  wholesome  condition  of 
mind,  3*011  will  wonder  how  the  devil  3*00  could  have  been  so  slow  in 
seeing  it.  [Laughter.] 

Are  you  not  asking  Northern  men  to  come  here,  and  do  3-011  not 
seek  Northern  capital?  If  you  suppose  either  will  come  here  unless 
eveiy  man  can  sa3'  what  he  pleases,  as  I  do  now,  3*ou  are  mistaken. 

These  are  not  mere  haphazard  questions.  You  have  j-ourselves 
implanted  an  ingrained  distrust  of  your  own  people,  of  3*our  lands, 
of  the  possibility  of  white  men's  labor,  of  3*our  climate,  and  of  3'our 
soil,  in  the  minds  of  men  in  other  States  and  in  other  countries  that 
it  will  take  a  generation  to  remove.  It  will  be  necessaiy  for  3*ou  to 
repl3'  to  these  questions,  and  to  help  the  removal  of  these  false  ideas, 
in  order  to  overcome  the  prejudices  that  you  yourselves  have  created, 
else  the  tide  of  immigration  will  continue  to  pass  b3*  you,  and  your 
lands  will  be  sparsely  occupied  for  half  a  centiny  more. 

Didn't  3*011  as  a  people  bear  your  testimony  that  white  men  could 
not  make  cotton?  Didn't  you  believe  it? 

Didn't  you  make  the  world  almost  believe  it? 

Was  not  I  subjected  almost  to  ridicule  in  1SG1,  when  I  predicted 
and  proved  that  larger  crops  of  cotton  would  be  made  at  less  cost  by 
free  labor,  and  by  white  labor  as  well  as  black,  than  could  possibly 
be  made  by  slaves,  in  my  pamphlet  on  -'Cheap  Cotton  by  Free 
Labor;"  when  also  I  proved  from  3*0111' own  records  that  the  mean 
summer  temperature  of  your  upland  cotton  country  was  lower  than 
that  of  some  parts  of  the  cit3*  of  Philadelphia,  and  that  the  average 
of  the  extremes  of  heat  was  greater  in  St.  Louis  than  in  New  Orleans  ? 

Who  then  would  have  admitted,  as  I  then  asserted,  that  if  there 
were  a  variet3*  of  the  cotton  plant  capable  of  being  grown  in  the 
North  or  West,  producing  no  lint  but  onl}*  seed,  it  would  be  one  of 
our  most  valuable  crops,  as  flax  seed  now  is  in  some  parts  of  the 
West,  although  the  flax  stalks  are  all  burned. 

Is  not  3*our  whole  system  of  ginning,  baling,  pressing,  and  mar- 
keting cotton  to-da3*  about  as  crude  and  as  bad  as  ever,  —  not  quite, 
but  nearty  so? 

When  you  get  up  this  exhibition,  I  want  3*011  to  make  one  part  of 
it  permanent.  You  should  establish  a  historic  museum,  before  it  is 
too  late,  as  a  landmark  by  which  to  measure  .your  own  progress  in 
the  next  decade,  and  in  which  to  save  some  of  the  relics  of  the  past. 

Begin  with  a  u  nigger  hoe  "  and  a  bull-tongue  plough,  a  model  of  a 
common  gin-stand  of  the  old  times,  a  picture  of  a  pile  of  seed  along- 
side rotting  and  wasting ;  and  with  these  place  the  hand  loom  and 
the  spinning  wheel  of  3*our  mountain  district  with  some  of  3*our  home- 
spun goods.  Put  into  this  museum  the  best,  the  medium,  and  the 
common  doings,  and  I  venture  to  predict  3'ou  will  say  to  me  a  few 
3*ears  hence,  about  the  economic  aspect  of  the  case,  what  one  of  my 
most  valued  friends  in  Georgia  said  to  me  a  few  3*ears  since,  when 
speaking  of  the  moral  and  political  aspect  of  slavery,  "  that  he  looked 
back  with  utter  horror,  wonder,  and  amazement  upon  practices  which 
were  then  tolerated  and  unthought  of  because  they  were  customary." 


15 

x 

Gentlemen,  apply  these  questions  which  I  have  asked  in  regard  to 
the  period  from  1840  to  1860  to  the  period  that  has  elapsed  from  1870 
to  1880.  Mark  the  changes  and  the  improvement;  mark  the  first 
fruits  of  liberty,  and  tell  me  then  if  that  progress  which  has  been 
accomplished  in  this  last  decade,  great  as  it  is,  is  more  than  the 
faintest  shadow  of  that  which  ma}*  be  in  the  near  future.  What  do 
we  Northern  men  want  to  see  in  this  exhibition  ? 

We  hear  of  trash-cleaners  that  will  give  a  good  j'ield  of  lint  in 
good  condition  from  the  dirtiest  boll  picked  at  the  end  of  the  sea- 
son to  save  it,  —  boll  and  lint  together.  The  Ralston  trash-cleaner, 
made  in  Brenham,  Tex.,  is  one.  The  machine  made  b}*  Mr.  Clarke 
of  your  own  city  is  another. 

We  want  you  to  put  up  3-0111*  best  cotton  in  one  hundred  and 
twenty  pound  bales,  pressed  on  the  farm  with  the  little  Dederick 
press  that  compresses  it  to  forty  pounds  to  the  cubic  foot,  —  hard  as 
elm-wood,  and  as  little  liable  to  soak  water,  —  wired  on  the  cotton> 
and  sent  to  market  in  a  clean  meal-sack. 

We  want  extra  stapled  cotton  for  fine  spinning  to  be  combed,  not 
carded  ;  and  such  cotton  ought  to  be  ginned  on  the  new  roller-gins, 
now  made  in  England,  that  are  said  to  beat  the  saw-gin,  not  only  in 
quality,  but  in  quantity. 

We  want  to  see  all  the  crude  devices  proposed  to  be  used  in 
picking,  although  we  don't  much  believe  in  them. 

Somebody  is  wrong  about  the  Clement  attachment.  Who  is  it? 
The  exhibition  will  show. 

We  want  to  see  the  colored  farmers'  cotton  in  competition  with  the 
white  farmers'.  We  want  to  prove  103*011  that  education  pays,  and 
that  the  more  faith  3*011  have  in  the  capncit3*  of  3*our  own  black 
laborers,  the  better  cotton  will  become  3*ear  by  year. 

Do  3*011  know  that  3*011  are  the  most  amusingly  inconsistent  people 
on  the  face  of  the  earth?  I  have  had  a  very  wide  correspondence  in 
your  States,  and  I  guess  I  have  asked  more  questions  of  you  and 
about  3*011,  by  letter,  circular,  and  by  word  of  mouth,  than  any 
Yankee  that  ever  lived  ;  and  now  I  am  going  to  give  you  a  summary 
of  3'our  own  testimony  about  the  nigger,  spelt  with  two  #'s,  as  3*01* 
spell  it. 

You  will  see  how  conclusive  it  is,  and  you  will  each  of  3*ou  be  able 
to  add  some  one  or  more  facts  to  sustain  every  point.  I  wish  you 
would  give  them  to  me  ;  but  I  will  say  one  thing,  the  harshest  con- 
demnation of  the  colored  men  I  ever  heard  has  come  from  Northern 
men.  Now  to  our  testimony,  —  positive  in  all  its  points,  and  good 
before  any  jury  in  the  land  :  — 

I  find  that,  having  become  free,  the  black  women  take  such  poor 
care  of  the  babies,  that  the  colored  population  has  increased  faster 
than  the  whites  have  migrated  to  Texas :  therefore  the  census  is 
going  to  show  a  much  larger  relative  gain  of  niggers  than  any  one 
dreamed  of. 

I  am  informed  that  the  nigger  is  the  laziest  and  best  laborer  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  ;  that  he  cares  no  more  for  comfort  and  cleanliness 


16 

than  a  beast,  and  has  built  large  suburbs  of  good  houses  in  every 
city,  such  as  I  have  seen  on  this  journey  and  my  last  one  through  the 
Atlantic  States  spring  before  last.  Many  of 'these  houses  contain  an 
abundance  of  good  furniture  that  he  doesn't  value  a  rap,  but  bunks 
on  the  floor.  I  learn  that  he  breaks  tools  worse  than  he  ever  did,  and 
makes  larger  and  more  varied  crops  than  ever  before  ;  that  he  is 
lapsing  into  a  barbarism  in  which  he  astonishes  every  one  by  the 
rapiditj*  with  which  he  learns  to  read ;  and,  having  turned  altogether 
to  the  bad,  is  bringing  up  his  children  so  that,  if  the  poor  whites  do 
not  take  care,  there  will  be  man}'  counties,  as  there  are  now  a  few,  in 
which  there  are  more  illiterate  whites  than  there  are  blacks  in  ratio  to 
numbers';  that  he  makes  no  progress  in  the  accumulation  of  propert}r, 
and  has  come  into  the  possession  of  a  great  deal  of  land,  especially 
in  Georgia.  He  is  also  charged  with  the  conduct  of  many  large  farms 
or  plantations,  and  is  in  an  indispensable  factor  in  the  future  of  your 
industry,  who  ought  to  be  removed  to  Africa  by  the  Colonization 
Society.  Since  I  wrote  this  address,  I  have  received  a  copy  of  an 
address  given  by  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  I  believe  of  Vicksburg,  in 
which  it  is  held  that  the  Colonization  Society  ought  to  be  maintained 
to  deport  the  colored  population*  to  Africa,  because  the  negro  has 
shown  such  an  unexpected  capacitj7  for  education  that  he  is  becoming 
instructed  to  a  degree  be3'ond  any  position  that  he  can  attain  in  this 
country,  and  that  he  therefore  ought  to  go  to  Africa  where  he  may 
have  a  fair  chance.  [Laughter  and  applause.] 

Such,  gentlemen,  is  the  kind  of  testimony  that  may  be  had.  You 
don't  pay  your  money,  but  }'ou  do  take  your  choice.  My  own  obser- 
vations tell  me  that  the  progress  of  the  colored  people  of  the  Atlantic 
States  (I  have  never  been  be}*ond  them)  is  one  of  the  marvels  of 
economic  history,  pregnant  with  vast  influence  in  the  future. 

I  must  refer  to  one  other  subject. 

We  have  also  been  told  that  the  Northern  carpet-baggers  have 
entered  your  domains,  and,  united  with  the  Southern  scalawag,  in- 
fested your  Legislatures,  and  by  the  power  of  the  negro  vote  have  bur- 
dened many  of  the  cotton  States  with  enormous  debts. 

Gentlemen,  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  there  is  not  a  single  State, 
or  scarcely  one,  in  which  this  burden  of  debt  was  imposed  by  the  so- 
called  carpet-bag  Legislatures,  in  which  the  majority  of  the  white  men 
in  such  Legislature  did  not  consist  of  Southern  men,  —  Southern  born 
and  Southern  bred.  I  cannot  prove  this  ;  but  if  you  desire  good  will 
and  order,  if  you  want  Northern  men  and  Northern  methods,  you 
need  that  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  statements  on  which  this 
belief  is  founded  shall  be  determined,  and  3-011  need  also  to  welcome, 
and  not  to  repel  by  social  ostracism,  the  true  men  and  women  from 
the  North  who  have  or  shall  come  here  to  aid  you  in  leading  this 
colored  race  out  of  bondage  into  liberty  and  life. 

It  is  a  far  easier  task  than  we  have  in  Massachusetts,  where  nearly 
one-fourth  of  our  population  is  foreign-born,  and  consists  of  those 
who  have  come  to  us  subject  to  deeper  prejudices  and  a  kind  of  igno- 
rance more  difficult  to  overcome  than  any  thing  you  have  to  meet  in 
dealing  with  these  people. 


17 

I  speak  of  these  things  because  no  exhibition  of  material  resources, 
no  show  of  cotton,  corn,  or  wool,  will  much  avail,  unless  the  mental  as 
well  as  the  material  progress  of  the  States  and  of  the  Nation  are  alike 
promoted. 

I  have  asked  these  questions  as  to  your  methods  of  cultivation, — 
as  to  3'our  treatment  of  "the  land,  and  as  to  your  tools,  implements, 
gin-houses,  and  the  like,  for  a  purpose. 

Maybe  3*011  think  this  is  somewhat  of  an  assumption  on  my  part,  a 
mere  outside  observer  and  theorist ;  but  I  tell  you  the  questions  are  not 
mine.  If  you  want  to  find  the  originals,  go  to  De  Bow's  Review  ;  to 
Dr.  N.  B.  Cloud  of  Alabama,  and  other  Southern  writers ;  to  any  of 
your  Southern  magazines  and  papers  from  1840  to  1860,  —  and  3'ou 
will  find  these  questions  all  there,  together  with  assertions  of  the  bad 
methods  referred  to,  but  put  with  more  vigor  and  more^pertinence  or 
impertinence,  whichever  you  choose  to  call  it,  than  can  be  attributed 
to  me. 

We  are  members  one  of  another ;  and,  if  you  want  to  "jaw  back," 
come  up  to  New  England  and  search  out  all  our  weak  places,  and  we 
will  cure  them  if  we  can. 

I  assume  that  3-011  listen  to  me  now  as  my  good  old  friend  Edward 
Harris  used  to  when  a  man  came  to  look  over  his  great  woollen  mill. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  skilful  woollen  manufacturers  we  ever  had 
in  New  England,  and  the  doors  of  his  mill  were  open  to  every  man 
who  applied  to  him.  'I  asked  him  one  day  win-  he  let  me  and  his 
other  competitors  enter.  "  Oh,"  said  he,  u  any  one  ma3*  go  in  ;  but 
I  always  want  to  go  with  'em  myself.  A 113*  fool  can  teach  me  some- 
thing." So,  maybe,  I  can  teach  you.  [Laughter.] 

I  suppose  3-ou  think  I  speak  with  more  urgency  than  the  present 
case  will  warrant ;  but  you  would  comprehend  it  more  fully  if  you  had 
bought  as  much  cotton  for  manufacturing  purposes  as  I  have;  and  I 
only  echo  the  present  and  urgent  complaint  of  Northern  manufacturers 
against  the  dirty,  wet,  muddy  bales  of  cotton  fibre,  badly  ginned, 
badly  covered,  and  badly  packed,  that  still  constitute  the  bulk  of  the 
receipts;  and  it  is  sometimes  enough  to  make  a  saint  swear  to  get  a 
lot  of  peeler  or  other  type  of  extra  stapled  uplands,  and  find  it  all 
nepped  and  gin-cut  by' the  saw-gin,  when  we  have  every  reason  to 
believe  that  Dobson  &  Barlow  of  Bolton,  and  Platt  Bros.  &  Co.  of 
Oldham,  Eng.,  have  perfected  the  knife  roller-gin  so,  that- it  will  not 
only  save  the  staple  and  beat  the  saw-gin  in  quality,  but  also  in  the 
quantity  that  either  will  turn  off  per  horse-power  applied. 

We  have  reason  to  believe  this  on  the  testimony  of  the  most  ex- 
haustive series  of  trials  of  gins  ever  made,  the  results  of  which  have 
lately  been  published  by  the  East  India  Board. 

This  is  but  one  of  the  many  subjects  that  would  come  up  in  the 
proposed  exhibition. 

Another  subject  which  impresses  me  as  of  the  greatest  importance 
is  cotton,  wool,  and  perhaps  paper  from  the  same  field. 

In  submitting  this  as  a  part  of  my  address,  I  desire  to  say  that  it 
was  written  for  a  different  purpose.  I  intended,  and  still  intend,  to 


18 

submit  it  to  Northern  manufacturers  ;  and  I  want  you  to  criticise  it, 
and  to  point  out  to  me  the  errors  into  which  I  have  fallen.  Am  I 
right  or  wrong?  Can  }*ou  raise  cotton  and  wool  off  the  same  field? 
If  not,  why  not?  What  will  your  exhibition  show  on  this  point? 
Cotton  and  wool,  perhaps  paper  stock  from  the  same  field. 

In  nry  recent  communication  to  u  The  New  York  Herald,"  propos- 
ing an  exhibition  devoted  to  cotton  and  its  products  (which  proposi- 
tion you  are  now  considering),  it  was  suggested  that  a  portion  or  the 
whole  of  the  hulls  of  the  cotton  seed  might  be  devoted  to  the  manu- 
facture of  paper  at  a  low  cost. 

As  this  has  been  questioned,  the  writer  has  since  informed  himself 
more  fully,  and  he  finds  by  consultation  with  an  experienced  paper- 
maker,  who  has  worked  cotton-seed  hulls  into  paper,  that  the  product 
of  pulp  from  hulls  taken  from  seed  that  has  not  been  passed  through 
a  linter  to  remove  the  very  short  and  fine  fibre  left  by  the  gin,  will  be 
fifty  per  cent  of  pulp.  . 

The  treatment  is  boiling  under  pressure  with  caustic  alkali, — about 
twent3~-five  pounds  soda-ash,  twenty-five  pounds  lime,  and  four  pounds 
bleaching  powders,  to  one  hundred  pounds  of  hulls.  The  cost  of  the 
alkali  in  Boston  would  be  sixty  to  seventy  cents  per  one  hundred 
pounds  of  hulls. 

I  have  no  practical  knowledge  of  this  matter ;  but,  if  these  state- 
ments can  be  accepted,  another  product  of  the  fifty  thousand  square 
miles  under  consideration  hereafter — b}T  conversion  of  the  least  valu- 
able part  of  the  proposed  subsistence  of  the  sheep,  to  wit,  the  hulls  — 
may  be  five  hundred  thousand  to  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
tons  of  excellent  pulp  ready  for  use  by  the  paper  manufacturer. 
The  hulls  are  also  used  to  some  extent  for  tanning.  I  am  also 
informed  that  they  are  used  for  packing  railroad  axle-boxes,  and  are 
much  better  than  cotton  waste.  The  stalk  of  the  cotton  plant  is  also 
full  of  fibre,  and  I  have  seen  some  specimens  of  paper  made  from  the 
stalks  that  looked  veiy  promising. 

The  figures  of  the  several  products  now  given  are  somewhat  larger 
than  those  first  given  in  "The  New  York  Herald,"  because  it  was 
thought  that  if  the  full  case  was  all  stated  at  the  beginning  it  might 
really  be  deemed  visionary  to  some  persons  to  whom  the  facts  are 
new. 

The  cliinate  of  a  large  portion  of  the  cotton  States  is  well  suited 
to  the  production  of  fine  clothing  or  merino  wool.  This  section  con- 
stitutes especially  the  upland  country  of  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Geor- 
gia, South  Carolina,  and  a  large  part  of  Texas,  —  a  section  not  as  hot 
as  Spain  or  as  the  La  Plata  country,  or  the  pampas  of  South  America, 
from  which  latter  point  comes  the  fine  "  mestiza  "  wool. 

There  is  one  section  constituting  a  part  of  .Georgia  and  South 
Carolina,  known  there  as  the  "  thermal  belt,"  lying  south-east  of  the 
Blue  Ilidge,  over  which  the  warm  winds  from  the  south-west  are 
deflected  b}'  the  mountains,  fending  off  the  sea-breezes  and  storms  that 
affect  the  lands  nearer  the  coast.  It  is  a  healthy  country,  well 
watered  by  perennial  streams  flowing  from  the  mountains,  which, 


19 

being  wooded  to  the  top,  condense  moisture,  and  deliver  it  slowly  and 
regularly. 

This  is  the  land  of  cotton,  of  the  vine,  and  of  the  peach.  It  is 
difficult  to  conceive  a  climate  better  for  fine-woollccT  sheep.  In  this 
section  alone  can  be  found  an  area  almost  sufficient  for  what  is  pro- 
posed hereafter. 

Mutton  raised  on  the  sea  islands,  where  the  sheep  browse  on  the 
marsh-mallow,  is  claimed  b}'  Charleston  epicures  to  be  superior  to  the 
best  Southdown. 

In  the  mountain  valleys  flanking  this  "thermal"  region,  possess- 
ing a  rich  soil  and  a  dry,  health}',  and  not  very  cold  climate,  the  long- 
woolled  sheep  may  be  grown  to  any  extent,  and,  higher  up,  the 
Angora  goat. 

In  its  natural  condition  the  soil  of  this  upland  section  will  yield 
from  175  to  250  pounds  of  cotton  lint  per  acre. 

When  properly  cultivated  and  manured,  the  product  can  be  carried 
to  500  pounds  per  acre  or  more. 

Assuming  good  cultivation  and  an  average  product  of  400  pounds 
lint,  there  will  be  from  1,050  to  1,250  pounds  of  seed  to  each  acre 
on  the  average.  After  setting  aside  enough  selected  seed  for  plant- 
ing, there  will  be  1,000  pounds  left  for  feeding. 

It  is  the  production  of  seed  that  exhausts  the  soil,  and  not  of  fibre. 
In  the  four  hundred  pounds  lint  there  are  but  four  pounds  of  chemical 
elements  drawn  from  the  soil ;  but  in  the  thousand  pounds  of  seed 
there  are  forty  pounds  of  phosphate  of  lime  and  potash. 

If  this  seed  is  used  for  a  fertilizer  as  it  comes  from  the  gin,  it 
works  slowly  and  unevenly.  The  oil  injures  it  as  a  fertilizer.  It 
should  all  be  fed  to  stock  in  order  to  give  the  best  results. 

It  seems  to  suit  sheep  well  if  fed  whole  ;  but,  for  hogs  and  cattlej 
the  more  the  oil  is  removed,  the  better  it  is. 

Here  let  it  be  remarked  that  the  removal  of  oil  b}^  hulling,  and 
then  pressing  the  kernel,  is  an  ineffectual  mode.  B}T  treatment  with 
naphtha  we  have  lately  obtained  oil  from  the  hardest  and  driest 
cotton-seed  cake  to  the  amount  of  15^  per  cent  of  the  weight  of  the 
cake.  But,  as  it  has  been  said,  sheep  appear  to  thrive  on  whole  seed, 
and  must  therefore  thrive  on  oil-cake  and  hulls  ground  or  mixed 
together. 

The  area  of  land  from  which  the  late  crop  of  5,750,000  bales  of 
cotton  was  gathered,  was  12,600,000  acres,  —  a  trifle  over  19,000 
square  miles.  Assuming  that  4,600,000  acres  of  this  land  was  river- 
bottom,  and  we  have  8,000,000  acres  of  upland  under  cultivation. 
The  average  product  of  the  whole  area  in  cotton  was  less  than  half  a 
bale,  or  less  than  240  pounds  to  the  acre;  and  the  average  of  the 
uplands  could  not  have  exceeded,  if  it  reached,  200  pounds  to  the 
acre  in  this  prolific  cotton  year  just  ended. 

I  have  the  record  from  m}'  friend,  Mr.  Dunbar,  of  an  old  field  of 
forty  acres  of  sandy  upland,  near  Augusta,  Ga.,  brought  up  by  the 
use  of  stable  manure,  composted  with  dead  leaves  from  adjacent 
woods,  from  150  pounds  to  over  500  pounds  per  acre. 


20 

The  problem  of  sheep  and  cotton  alternated  on  the  same  field  may 
therefore  be  considered  with  reference  to  an  area  of  8,000,000  acres 
of  upland,  or  12,500  square  miles,  on  which  the  proposition  is  to 
double  the  crop  of  cotton,  and  to  add  the  wool  clip  without  cost  for 
the  wool  except  for  shearing. 

For  this  purpose  of  alternation  we  shall  need  four  times  this  area 
of  land,  or  50,000  square  miles  ;  in  all  32,000,000  acres. 

We  ma}-  as  well  omit  Texas  from  the  consideration,  because  most 
of  her  cotton  land  is  too  rich  for  sheep.  Her  sheep-range  is  also  too 
big  to  begin  to  consider  fencing  and  folding  at  present. 

We  will  also  omit  Louisiana  and  Arkansas,  because  there  is  more 
reason  to  expect  bottom-land  cotton  from  these  States.  We  will 
assume  that  this  work  is  to  be  done  in  the  States  of  Mississippi, 
Alabama,  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina,  and  Tennessee ; 
and  that  it  is  also  all  to  be  done  in  such  parts  of  these  States  as  are 
subject  to  the  conditions  of  climate  that  I  have  named,  —  in  the  coun- 
try lying  on  the  flanks  of  the  mountains  and  midway  between  them 
and  the  low  sandy  coast-lands  on  'the  ocean  or  gulf  sides  of  the  States 
named  (except  Tennessee)  ;  that  is  to  sa%y,  in  that  portion  of  these 
States  where  it  is  now  claimed  that  most  of  the  cotton  is  raised  by 
white  labor.  It  will  require  but  seventeen  per  cent  of  the  area  of 
these  respective  States  to  give  the  50,000  square  miles  now  being  con- 
sidered. We  will  add  three  per  cent  for  house  and  garden  spots,  and 
five  per  cent  for  roads  and  the  like.  We  shall  then  treat  twenty-five 
per  cent  only,  or  one-fourth  of  the  respective  areas  of  these  six  States. 
This  will  include  the  "  thermal  belt." 

Now  let  us  see  what  may  be  done  with  this  section  on  the  basis  of 
ascertained  facts. 

Each  400  acres  can  be  surrounded  by  a  five-row,  barbed-wire,  dog- 
proof  fence,  and  divided  into  four  fields  by  cross  fences  at  a  cost, 
including  posts  and  setting,  of  less  than  a  thousand  dollars. 

In  each  400  acres  let  one  field  be  devoted  to  corn,  one  to  cow- 
pease,  one  to  cotton,  and  one  to  sheep.  The  seed  from  a  first  pro- 
duct of  200  pounds  of  cotton  per  acre  with  the  grass  which  follows  the 
cotton  would  carry  two  and  a  half  sheep  per  acre  on  the  next  field 
for  six  months  ;  and  the  cow-pease  and  corn-fodder  would  serve  for  the 
rest  of  the  3*ear.  The  pea-vines  and  sheep-clung  would  increase  the 
crop,  and  more  sheep  would  be  added  each  }'ear  until  in  the  third  or 
fourth  year  the  average  would  be  400  pounds  cotton  per  acre  on  100 
acres,  five  sheep  per  acre  on  100  acres,  a  corn  crop  increased  in  the  same 
proportion  as  the  cotton,  say  from  10  to  15  bushels  to  an  acre  to  20 
or  30  bushels  on  the  third  100  acres,  and  the  cow-pease  to  be  ploughed 
in  or  Bermuda  grass  to  be  cropped  by  sheep  on  the  fourth  100  acres. 

On  the  50,000  square  miles,  or  32,000,000  acres,  we  should  there- 
fore have  the  following  results  :  — 

LOT  No.  1.  —  On  8,000,000  acres  (being  the  same  area  now  in 
cotton  in  the  States  named  from  which  this  year  only  3,000,000  bales 
cotton  were  gathered),  we  should  have  6,666,000  bales  of  480  pounds 
each. 


21 

LOT  No.  2.  — On  8,000,000  acres  at  five  sheep  each,  40,000,000 
sheep,  yielding  at  six:  and  a  half  pounds  per  fleece,  250,000,000 
pounds  of  wool. 

LOT  No.  3.  — On  8,000,000  acres  of  corn,  at  25  bushels  per 
acre,  200,000,000  bushels  of  corn. 

The  oil  that  ought  to  be  removed  from  the  cotton  seed  before  it  is 
fed  would  amount  tc/over  100,000,t)00  gallons.  • 

If  these  figures  seem  somewhat  visionary,  let  it  be  considered  that 
the  acres  now  under  cultivation  in  corn  and  cotton  in  these  six  States 
number  nearly  19,000,000,  and  that  what  is  proposed  is  only  to  en- 
close 13,000,000  acres  of  adjacent  waste  land  with  what  is  now  under 
the  plough,  and  then  to  put  less  labor  on  the  whole  32,000,000  than 
is  now  devoted  to  the  19,000,000  acres. 

The  cow-pea  needs  only  to  be  planted  and  ploughed  in  ;  the  sheep 
need  only  to  be  folded,  —  there  would-be  about  3,000,000  less  acres 
requiring  qonstant  labor  than  there  are  now. 

If  the  same  intelligence  can  be  applied  to  one-quarter  part  of  the 
land  of  six  of  the  cotton  States  that  has  been  applied  in  some  small 
portions  of  them,  these  results  can  all  be  attained.  Their  realization 
is  purely  a  question  of  common  .sense,  moderate  industry,  and  suffi- 
cient capital.  How  long  will  it  take?  The  following  report  lately 
made  at  the  request  of  the  undersigned  may  be  taken  in  evidence  of 
the  conclusions  given  in  this  statement :  — 

OAKLEY,  ARKANSAS  COUNTY,  ARK.,  Sept.  7,  1880. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  It  has  been  suggested  to  me  by  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson 
that  it  might  be  beneficial  to  sheep  husbandry  in  the  South  to  give  my  ex- 
perience in  sheep-raising  in  Arkansas,  and  my  experience  in  feeding  cotton 
seed  to  sheep  during  the  winter  months. 

I  commenced  sheep-raising  in  1854  with  300  grade  merino  ewes  crossing 
with  Cotswold  bucks.  I  wintered  entirely  with  cotton  seed  and  what  grass 
they  could  get  in  the  cotton  fields.  My  flock  increased  to  about  1,000  nead, 
which  was  as  many  as  I  could  handle.  They  were  a  smooth,  healthy  lot  of 
sheep,  and  the  deaths  from  disease  were  so  few  that  I  did  not  note  the  rate, 
but  think  two  per  cent  would  cover  it.  All  of  them  I  lost  in  1862  from 
casualties  of  the  war. 

In  the  fall  of  1878  I  purchased  a  small  flock  of  inferior  sheep,  most  of 
them  old,  and  some  with  symptoms  of  rot.  I  wintered  them  in  the  winter 
of  1878  and  1879  entirely  on  cotton  seed,  giving  them  a  handful  of  seed 
morning  and  night.  I  had  20  ewes,  and  raised  29  lambs;  4  of  the  ewes  not 
lambing,  and  3  of  the  4  dying  during  the  winter  of  old  age. 

In  1879  I  had  31  ewes,  which  were  wintered  during  last  winter  entirely 
on  cotton  seed.  They  dropped  53  lambs,  of  which  I  saved  47.  I  fed  these 
more  seed,  as  I  had  plenty,  and  fed  on  the  ground,  which  caused  a  waste  of 
nearly  one-half  the  seed.  Cotton  seed  can  be  purchased  at  the  gins  at  from 
three  to  four  dollars  per  ton  of  2,000  pounds.  One  ton  will  winter  from  10 
to  15  sheep  when  fed  on  the  ground;  if  fed  in  troughs,  it  would  winter  20 
to  30  sheep. 

I  suppose  the  seed  must  be  good  feed,  as  the  sheep  look  well.  A  neigh- 
bor of  mine,  who  was  a  large  sheep-breeder  in  Ohio,  says  that  one  ton  to 
40  sheep  is  enough  when  they  have  the  run  of  a  pasture,  and  that  he  can 
winter  well  a  sheep  at  ten  cents  per  head. 


22 

There  are  many  cotton  plantations  in  the  South  that  are  too  much  worn 
to  make  the  cultivation  of  cotton  profitable  that  c/mld  be  brought  to  their 
original  fertility  by  feeding  sheep  with  cotton  seed  on  the  fields.  These 
plantations  could  be  divided  into  four  fields,  one  of  which  could  be  set  to 
Bermuda  grass,  which  will  afford  grazing  for  as  many  sheep  as  eight  or  ten 
per  acre  as  long  as  it  would  be  healthy  to  keep  them  on  it;  one  field  could  be 
sown  with  cow-pease,  and  fed  off  the  ground  daring  the  winter;  and,  after 
the  pease  and  vines  were  consumed,  the  sheep  could  be  fed  on  the  field  the 
balance  of  the  winter  on  cotton  seed,  and  their  droppings,  together  with 
manure  from  the  pea-vine,  would  double  the  crop  of  cotton;  and  by  this 
means  the  planter  would  enrich  his  land  and  himself  at  the  same  time. 

I  find  Bermuda  grass  as  good  grazing  as  any  I  have  ever  tried;  but  it  is 
only  a  summer  grass,  and  seems  to  do  best  during  hot  dry  weather,  but  re- 
quired to  be  kept  closely  grazed,  as  it  gets  hard  when  old;  but  this  could  be 
remedied  by  keeping  cattle  and  sheep  in  alternate  pastures. 

My  experience  teaches  me  that  sheep  can  be  wintered  in  the  South  at  a 
cost  of  ten  to  fifteen  cents  per  head,  and,  if  credit  be  given  them  for  the 
weeds  and  briers  they  destroy  and  the  land  they  manure,  the  cost  is  less  than 
nothing.  Another  profit  could  be  added  to  sheep  husbandry  at  the  South, 
and  that  is  the  increased  value  of  worn-out  cotton  plantations,  which  might 
be  computed  at  ten  per  cent  on  the  original  cost  of  the  land. 

I  neglected  to  say  that  I  sow  my  Bermuda  grass  pastures  with  white 
clover,  which  makes  good  grazing  in  the  spring  before  the  Bermuda  grass  has 
commenced  to  grow,  and  again  in  the  fall  after  the  Bermuda  has  been 
killed  by  frost.  Could  the  cotton  planter  of  the  South  be  induced  to  raise 
sheep,  we  could  soon  export  wool  instead  of  importing  it. 

Respectfully, 

J.  H.  MOORE. 

It  would  seem  that  an  experimental  farm  ought  to  be  established 
for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  best  method  of  growing  wool  and  cotton 
on  the  same  field  ;  and,  lest  the  Washburn  and  Moen  dog-proof  fence 
should  not  be  sufficient,  perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  begin  in  North 
Carolina,  where,  so  I  have  been  informed,  the  supreme  court  has 
lately  pronounced  dogs  to  be  ferae  natures. 

Let  us  assume  the  conditions  and  cost  on  a  moderate  scale,  so  that 
the  undertaking  may  not  seem  so  visionary  as  the  large  figures  given 
in  the  preceding  pages. 

A  farm  to  be  purchased  consisting  of  rather  poor  sandy  soil.  This 
I  assume  can  be  had  at  less  than  five  dollars  per  acre. 

Say  500  acres  at  $5 $2,500 

Fencing  and  dividing  400  acres  with  barbed  wire  fence        .         .  1,000 
Bam  and  sheds  in  centre  of  the  quadrangle,  including  gin-stand 

and  other  appliances 1,000 

Tools  and  implements 500 


Total $5,000 

Houses  according  to  circumstances,  and  five  hundred  sheep  at  a 
price  conditioned  on  their  qualit}7. 

It  may  be  assumed  that  ten  thousand  dollars  would  be  an  ample 
capital  for  such  a  beginning ;  but  these  figures  are  based  on  theory, 


23 

and  not  on  practice.  Perhaps  a  much  less  sum  would  serve  the  pur- 
pose. One  thing  more  may  be  considered  in  this  connection.  While 
it  is  doubtless  true  that  sheep  thrive  on  the  whole  cotton  seed  with 
all  the  oil  in  it,  yet  it  appears  that  there  is  too  much  oil.  It  affects 
the  milk  of  the  breeding  ewes,  and  also  deposits  a  great  excess  of 
grease  in  the  fleece. 

It  would  be  truer  economy  to  extract  all  the  oil  that  can  be  removed 
by  pressure,  and  then  the  ground  cake  and  hulls  would  be  in  true  con- 
dition to  feed  to  sheep,  cattle,  or  hogs. 

Machines  for  hulling  the  seed  can  now  be  purchased  at  moderate 
cost ;  and  we  may  be  very  sure  that,  as  soon  as  a  demand  for  small 
presses  for  farm  use  is  made,  the  supply  will  come.  The  Dederick 
hay-press  is  now  being  used  for  packing  cotton  fibre  to  a  compression 
equal  to  the  density  of  elm-wood,  or  forty  pounds  to  a  cubic  foot, 
and  the  inventor  of  that  press  seems  equal  to  an}*  emergency. 

The  removal  of  the  oil,  like  the  removal  of  the  fibre,  takes  almost 
nothing  from  the  land  devoted  to  cotton,  the  mineral  element  being 
about  three-fourths  in  the  kernel  and  one-fourth  hull. 

It  should  be  remembered  in  this  connection  that  the  work  of  two 
laborers  in  the  cotton  field,  producing  each  ten  bales  of  cotton,  and 
with  the  aid  of  their  children  picking  it  clear ;  one  man's  work,  or  its 
equivalent  in  money,  to  gin,  pack,  and  move  the  cotton  to  the  factory 
in  New  England ;  and  the  work  there  of  one,  or  at  the  utmost  two 
operatives,  —  four  or  five  in  all,  —  suffices  for  the  production  of  eight 
thousand  pounds  of  heavy  cotton  cloth,  sufficient  to  meet  the  need  of 
1,GOO  Chinese  or  3,200  East  Indians.  The  same  number,  or  perhaps 
one  more,  —  say,  six  in  all,  —  will  produce  and  convert  the  quantity 
of  raw  cotton  into  the  fine  fabrics  needed  by  1,000  inhabitants  of  the 
United  States  for  their  annual  supply. 

It  should  also  be  further  considered  that  we  as  yet  produce  in  the 
United  States  only  about  one-half  of  the  cotton  that  is  consumed  in 
the  world,  possibly  a  little  more,  and  that  a  larger  number  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  globe  are  to-day  clothed  in  cotton  fabrics,  spun  and 
woven  by  hand,  than  there  are  clothed  in  the  product  of  the  machinery 
of  Europe  and  America  combined. 

When  all  the  relations  and  possibilities  of  the  cotton  plant  are  con- 
sidered, even  the  apparently  visionary  treatment  of  the  hard  facts 
presented  in  this  paper  may  be  held  to  be  worth}'  of  consideration. 

I  submitted  the  first  draft  of  this  address  to  Hon.  G.  V.  Fox,  late 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  who,  in  addition  to  his  experience  as 
a  naval  officer,  has  had  great  opportunities  for  forming  a  judgment 
upon  the  topics  under  consideration,  having  been  for  many  years  in 
charge  of  one  of  the  largest  woollen  factories  of  New  England.  In 
response  to  my  request  he  says,  — 

"  This  question  of  rotating  wool  and  cotton  has  been  a  study  with 
you  ;  and  since  you  presented  it  to  me  last  winter  at  Aiken  I  have,  in 
the  region  you  spoke  of,  made  such  inquiries  as  to  satisfy  me  that  the 
physical  conditions  are  such  as  to  render  the  success  of  a  trial  more 
than  probable.  In  fact,  I  find  one  man  shifting  about  forty  sheep 


24 

from  field  to  field  for  the  purpose  indicated  in  your  paper.  In  the 
Piedmont  region  of  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia, 
where  cotton  by  the  aid  of  phosphates  is  grown  to  the  very  foot  of 
the  mountains,  it  cannot  be  expected  that,  alone,  it  will  be  able  to 
compete  with  the  rich  bottom  of  Tennessee,  Arkansas,  Mississippi, 
Alabama,  or  the  rich  lands  of  Texas." 

u  But  the  Piedmont  region  is  the  seat  of  future  coarse  cotton  and 
yarn  manufacturers,  and  the  cotton  grown  there  will  all  be  wanted, 
as  will  the  wool,  to  render  useful  the  enormous  water-power  now 
running  to  waste.  People  are  moving  into  this  region,  and  dotting 
the  great  waste  with  farms.  A  moderate  flock  on  each  one  of  these 
is  more  practicable  than  large  flocks  in  unappropriated  lands  where 
the  absence  of  *  dog '  and  '  fence '  laws  render  the  business  preca- 
rious." 

1  'On  all  these  subjects  it  would  be  very  presumptuous  for  me  to 
offer  any  criticism  to  what  you  have  written  other  than  to  say  that  it 
commends  itself  to  my  common  sense,  and  the  rotation  advocated  has 
found  within  the  field  of  my  inquiries  on  the  spot  no  obstacles  but  lazi- 
ness and  want  of  capital." 

In  the  original  draft  of  this  address  I  had  ventured  on  some 
statements  in  regard  to  the  climatic  condition  of  the  section  of  land 
now  under  special  consideration,  in  which  I  had  named  the  so-called 
"  thermal  belt,"  of  which  I  have  heard  many  accounts.  Capt.  Fox's 
account  of  this  section  is  so  much  more  complete  and  authoritative 
than  my  own,  that  I  have  ventured  to  substitute  it.  Capt.  Fox  says, 
"There  are,  however,  on  the  first  page  of  }rour  paper  some  remarks 
upon  meteorology  and  the  '  thermal  belt '  which  are  not  of  your  in- 
vestigation, and  do  not  conform  to  my  stud}T  of  the  subject.  I 
should  not  criticise.it  had  I  not  spent  years  at  sea  where  meteorology 
is  part  of  the  daily  life,  and  on  land  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to  continue 
an  interest  in  the  subject.  There  is  no  portion  of  the  United  States 
where  freezing  weather  does  not  occur,  excepting  Key  West  and  the 
southern  parts  of  Florida.  I  was  at  St.  Augustine  in  December, 
1878,  and  walked  on  ice ;  the  thermometer  being  27°.  At  Key 
West  it  was  51°  at  the  same  time.  There  is  probably  no  winter 
where  the  record  will  not  show  freezing  weather  everywhere  in  the 
United  States  but  in  Southern  Florida." 

"There  are  among  the  Appalachian  Mountains,  from  Virginia  to 
Georgia  inclusive,  belts  of  land  —  thermal  they  might  be  called  — 
where  frost  does  not  appear  ;  but  the  transition  is  from  fall  to  freezing 
weather,  without  that  intermediate  state  where  the  frosts  destroy 
fruits,  cotton,  and  tobacco.  One  of  the  most  notorious  of  these 
tracts  is  near  Tryon  Mountain,  coming  down  from  Asheville  to 
Spartanburg.  It  is  some  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  and 
perhaps  thirty  by  fifteen  miles.  I  saw  a  planter  who  was  growing 
cotton  there.  Fruits  have,  of  course,  a  great  advantage  in  such  a 
region.  The  cause  is  said  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  parallel 
ridges  of  mountains  retain  the  stratum  of  air,  which,  being  heated 
during  the  day,  ascends  to  a  height  where  its  equilibrium  is  main- 


25 

tained  ;  and  this  relation,  due  to  special  configuration,  keeps  off  the 
frosts  in  the  fall,  but,  of  course,  not  freezing  weather,  which  stretches 
everywhere  when  the  sun  is  on  the  Tropic  of  Cancer.  With  regard 
to  storms,  sea-breezes,  and  the  deflection  of  winds  by  the  Appalachian 
Mountains,  it  ma}'  be  observed  that  hurricanes  —  the  designation  of 
those  terrible  tropical  meteors  —  do  not  reach  these  mountains, 
because  such  storms,  and  all  widely  extended  ones,  are  the  product 
of  heat  and  moisture.  They  are  born  in  the  Antilles,  are  rotary  in 
character,  and  buried  in  the  prevailing  winds,  —  follow  their  course 
as  the  circular  eddies  do  when  an  obstacle  is  placed  in  a  stream. 
Their  path  is  where  heat  and  great  moisture  exist;  otherwise  their 
force  is  diminished,  and  the}'  are  dissipated.  Those  that  strike  our 
Atlantic  coasts  and  follow  the  Gulf  Stream  are  fed  by  the  moisture 
and  heat  of  that  stream,  and  their  greatest  violence  is  on  the  ocean 
and  its  shore-line.  I  was  in  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina  when 
the  great  cyclone  of  1879  passed  up  the  coast,  destroying  so  much 
property  at  Beaufort,  Wilmington,  Long  Branch,  &c.  It  was  only 
a  gale  in  the  mountains.  Other  meteors  steer  straight  across  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico ;  but  their  violence  is  expended  in  that  inland  sea, 
and  along  its  shores,  Havana,  Key  West,  Galveston,  Mobile.  When 
the  storm  passes  inland  it  expands,  its  violence  immediately  decreases, 
and  the  whole  valley  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Appalachian  Moun- 
tains receive  their  needful  rain." 

"The  first  observation  one  makes  in  these  mountains  is,  that  no 
violent  storms  can  exist  there  such  as  characterizes  the  White  Moun- 
tains, because,  except  on  the  very  highest  peaks,  lofty  and  regular 
trees  and  cultivation  reach  their  summits.  They  do  not  deflect  these 
storms  :  they  emasculate  them  by  depriving  4;hem  of  moisture,  and  the 
vortex  of  the  meteor,  where  the  greatest  force  is  exerted,  must  seek 
a- water-way  for  its  course.  The  prevailing  winds  bring  great  storms 
across  our  country  from  the  Pacific ;  but  the}'  lose  their  moisture  in 
crossing  the  mountains,  and  would  be  dissipated  if  it  were  not  for  the 
great  chain  of  lakes,  the  moisture  from  which  rekindles  their  fury ; 
and  they  exhibit  it  in  all  the  cities  near  their  path  in  their  way  to  the 
Atlantic,  where  they  frequently  meet  a  cyclone  coming  up  the  Gulf 
Stream,  and  the  friction  of  the  two  are  those  terrible  storms  which 
one  meets  between  here  and  England." 

"The  cotton  belt  commencing  in  North  Carolina,  averaging  two 
hundred  miles  in  width,  excepting  where  it  ascends  the  Mississippi 
four  hundred  miles  from  its  mouth,  and  terminating  almost  in  a  point 
in  Southern  Texas,  has  an  axis  whose  mean  temperature  is  64°,  with 
extremes  from  27°  by  30°  to  98°  by  104°." 

"  I  have  already  wearied  you,  and  I  should  exhaust  you  if  I  wrote 
you  any  more  of  my  reflections  after  two  years'  travelling  in  this 
wonderful  belt.  I  will  finish  by  observing  only,  that  the  warm  water 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  South  Atlantic  furnishes  the  moisture 
required  for  the  cotton  plant,  while  they  both  act  as  conductors  to 
draw  off  the  force  of  those  cyclones  which  are  let  loose  in  the  very 
months  when  the  plant,  if  in  their  track,  would  be  utterly  destroyed." 


26 

And  now,  gentlemen,  let  me  make  some  practical  suggestions  in 
regard  to  the  exhibition. 

What  should  be  aimed  at  in  the  exhibition  may  well  be  quality 
rather  than  quantitj*.  Let  the  greater  undertaking  grow  out  of  this 
one  now  proposed,  and  be  held  in  New  York  as  the  cotton  department 
of  the  great  exhibition  of  1883.  Let  the  present  one  be  suggestive, 
and  be  devoted  more  to  cotton  than  to  cotton  fabrics,  although  there 
will  doubtless  be  much  machinery  offered  for  the  manufacture  of  the 
fibre  into  yarn  or  cloth. 

Tliis  enterprise  should  be  rather  with  a  view  to  the  development  of 
tools  and  implements  for  the  cultivation  and  for  conversion  of  the 
plant  into  its  primary  forms  of  fibre,  seed,  oil,  oil-cake,  paper  slock, 
and  wool,  than  with  a  view  to  the  manufacture  of  .cotton  fabrics. 

For  this  purpose  no  excessive  or  even  heavy  expenditure  will  be 
required,  provided  the  building  be  itself  a  part  of  the  exhibition,  and 
be  so  constructed  that  it  will  serve  not  onjy  as  a  model,  but  may  be 
taken  down  and  sold  in  sections  for  as  much  or  more  than  it  will 
cost.  How  this  may  be  accomplished,  I  will  endeavor  to  show. 

With  the  increasing  use  of  steam  in  place  of  water-power,  and  the 
choice  of  ground  which  ensues,  the  construction  of  cotton  factories 
only  one  stoiy  high  is  becoming  common.  Many  persons,  of  whom  I 
am  one,  are  of  opinion  that  a  one-story  factory  may  be  made  safer  as 
to  danger  of  fire  ;  be  less  subject  to  vibration  and  consequent  wear  of 
machinery,  more  economical  in  working,  and  especially  in  overseeing  ; 
be  much  lighter,  as  well  as  more  easy  to  ventilate  and  keep  uniform 
in  temperature  ;  while  at  the  same  time  there  is  no  form  in  which  so 
large  an  area  of  floor  surface  available  for  use  can  be  provided  at  so 
low  a  cost  per  square  footT.  Some  of  these  points  are  contested  ;  but 
we  are  prepared  to  sustain  them,  and  they  are  incontestable  in  respect 
to  the  building  needed  for  this  exhibition. 

1  beg  to 'present  to  3*011  a  picture  of  a  one-stor}^  mill  lately  con- 
structed by  the  Willimantic  Thread  Company  of  Connecticut  to  con- 
tain fifty  thousand  cotton  spindles,  with  all  necessary  machinery  for 
preparing  and  carding  the  cotton,  all  on  one  floor  of  three  and  a  half 
acres  in  area. 

Here  is  another  picture  of  a  factory  covering  one  acre  and  an  an- 
nex covering  three-fourths  of  another  acre,  which  cost  onl}*  fiftj7  cents 
a  square  foot  of  floor  surface,  and  which  is  so  much  lighter  than  a 
common  mill  that  the  saving  in  gas  pays  the  interest  on  the  cost  of 
the  building. 

Here  is  another  plan  that  has  been  adopted  in  some  cases,  and 
which  is  the  one  that  I  suggest  to  you,  because  it  is  almost  all,  and 
may  be  wholly,  of  timber  and  glass. 

The  mode  of  construction  may  be  very  simple ;  the  foundation  is 
very  light,  as  the  weight  of  the  machinery  comes  on  the  frequent 
piers  placed  beneath  in  a  basement  high  enough  to  carry  all  the  shaft- 
ing. For  your  purposes,  the  foundations  may  be  trestle-work  in 
place  of  brick  or  stone,  if  cheaper,  and  posts  may  be  used  instead  of 
piers. 


27 

The  structure  may  be  in  the  form  of  a  Greek  cross,  the  engines 
being  in  the  centre.  The  roof  beams  are  eight  feet  apart,  ten  by  twelve 
inches,  or  less  in  j'our  climate  where  3*011  have  no  dread  of  heavy 
snows  ;  the  rows  of  posts  twenty-four  feet  apart,  and  eight  feet  apart 
in  the  rows.  These  divisions  are  convenient  for  almost  any  machines. 
Each  wing  of  the  cross  may  be  sevent}*-two  feet  wide,  and  as  long  as 
called  for.  The  end  being  a  movable  shield,  sections  can  be  built  on 
as  fast  as  wanted.  The  roof  to  be  covered  with  two  and  a  half-inch 
plank  tongued  and  splined,  and  covered  outside  with  cotton  duck 
painted  with  slate  paint ;  the  floors  of  the  same  structure.  For  mill 
use  there  would  be  one-inch  top  floor ;  but  for  the  exhibition  this 
would  not  be  needed.  Monitors  or  lanterns  at  every  other  bay  for 
light  and  air. 

Where  you  have  pine  timber  in  such  abundance,  there  can  be  but 
little  doubt  that  you  can  put  up  this  building  at  a  cost  of  not  over 
fort}'  cents  a  square  foot  of  floor.  It  can  all  be  put  together  with 
bolts  and  nuts  in  such  a  way  that,  after  it  ceases  to  be  needed  for  the 
exhibition,  it  can  be  taken  down  without  injuiy,  and  put  up  again  in 
sections  to  serve  for  gin-stands,  workshops,  oil  mills,  or  any  other 
purpose.  The  whole  can  be  protected  against  fire  by  automatic 
sprinklers,  by  means  of  which  a  fire  sounds  its  own  alarm,  lets  on  its 
own  water,  and  puts  itself  out. 

I  have  lately  been  hauled  over  the  coals  a  bit  in  some  of  your 
Southern  papers  because  I  said  I  could  not  conscientiously  recom- 
mend the  construction  of  cotton  mills  in  the  South.1  I  do  not  sup- 
pose you  will  be  convinced  by  any  thing  I  can  say.  Do  not  think  we 
fear  3*011  r  competition.  You  have  such  vast  fields  in  other  and  more 
profitable  directions,  that  we  may  expect  the  consumption  of  cotton 
goods  to  increase  here  faster  than  the  production  possibly  can.  You 
will  have  a  hundred  small  workshops  requiring  but  little  capital  to 
one  cotton  mill,  but  promoting  wealth  and  general  welfare  in  a  vastly 
greater  degree.  But  if  3*011  build  cotton  mills,  concentrate  them ; 
don't  scatter  them.  Each  mill  makes  the  next  one  easier  to  run. 
The  higher  paid  artisans  and  mechanics  in  these  lesser  arts  and 
trades  will  be  our  best  customers.  Then,  too,  the  world  is  wide  ;  and, 
as  I  have  before  stated,  the  foreign  demand  must  greatl}'  increase  for 
the  product  of  our  spindles  or  those  of  Europe.  There  is  one  point, 
however,  to  which  attention  ma3T  well  be  turned.  The  world  demands 
an  enormous  quantity  of  coarse  and  medium  cotton  yarn.  Nearly 
or  quite  one-fourth  the  value  of  cotton  fabrics  exported  from  Great 
Britain  has  for  some  years  consisted  of  yarn.  The  cost  of  a  yarn 

i  The  writer  begs  to  state  that  he  tried  to  avoid  the  discussion  of  this  subject. 
The  editor  of  a  New  Orleans  paper  telegraphed  him  to  write  an  article  upon 
Southern  cotton  manufactures,  which  he  declined  to  do,  only  saying  that  he  could 
not  conscientiously  recommend  investments  in  Southern  cotton  mills.  This 
reply  was  somewhat  indiscreetly  published,  and  has  led  to  some  unfriendly  com- 
ments, arid  also  to  some  absolute  misstatements  of  the  case.  The  writer  has 
given  some  reasons  for  an  opinion,  which,  after  all,  is  but  that  of  a  single  person. 
If  he  is  mistaken,  no  one  will  be  more  glad  to  acknowledge  the  error;  and  he 
would  ask  what  method  could  be  better  adapted  to  prove  him  to  be  wrong  than 
the  proposed  cotton  exhibition,  with  all  its  discussions  ? 


28 

mill  is  comparative!}'  small,  and  the  product  requires  relatively  few 
hands.  If  any  thing  more  is  done,  it  ought  to  be  in  the  direction  of 
spinning  yarn  for  export ;  but  this,  like  all  branches  of  the  cotton 
manufacture,  must  be  developed  slowly,  as  the  margin  of  profit  is 
very  small,  and  the  business  will  be  easily  wrecked,  not  because  of 
the  cost  of  manufacturing,  but  because  of  the  absence  of  the  facili- 
ties for  distribution.  A  great  commerce  cannot  be  improvised,  and 
high  commissions  and  charges  soon  eat  up  small  profits  on  a  far  dis- 
tant traffic. 

The  true  diversity  of  employment  which  makes  self-sustaining 
communities  consists  of  occupations  that  do  not  appeal  to  the  im- 
agination like  the  great  cotton  factory  ;  but  the  artisans  and  mechan- 
ics who  work  in  iron  and  wood,  the  stove-maker  and  the  like,  the 
furniture-maker,  the  tinman,  the  house wright,  the  wagon-builder, 
the  blacksmith,  and  the  whitesmith  are  the  most  valuable  citizens. 
The  hundred  arts  that  require  but  little  capital  and  support  many 
men  are  the  ones  that,  next  to  the  farmer,  form  the  bone  and  sinew 
of  society.  When  these  are  established,  the  textile  factory  may  well 
follow,  but  ought  not  to  precede  in  any  large  degree. 

To  one  other  subject  let  me  advert.  It  is  new  to  us,  as  well  as  to 
you.  If  I  understand  your  climate  and  soil,  you  can  raise  fodder 
crops  to  any  extent ;  but  you  cannot  compete  with  the  West  or  with 
many  parts  of  the  North  in  the  production  of  ripened  grain.  If  the 
method  of  saving  green  crops,  called  ''ensilage,"  proves  to  be  all 
that  is  claimed  for  it,  or  even  half,  and  it  shall  be  possible  to  keep 
fodder  green  and  succulent  for  a  year,  then  the  oft-quoted  benefactor 
who  made  only  two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  one  grew  before,  must 
give  way  to  him  who  will  be  yet  more  blessed,  —  the  man  who  feeds 
ten  head  of  cattle  where  one  found  but  a  meagre  pasture  before. 

If  to  the  sheep  fed  upon  the  cotton  seed  you  ma}*  add  great  droves 
of  cattle  fed  on  the  corn,  oats,  rye,  or  millet  saved  in  its  green  state, 
twenty,  forty,  even  sixty  tons  to  the  acre  ;  each  two  and  a  half 
tons  worth  one  ton  of  the  best  of  English  ha}' ;  good  feed  for  cattle, 
sheep,  or  hogs,  —  then  what?  Why,  I  am  afraid  we  should  all  become 
as  lazy  as  Emerson  once  said  all  mankind  are,  that  is  as  lazy  as  each 
man  dares  to  be ;  and  down  here  in  the  delicious  climate  of  these 
mountain  valleys,  through  which  I  have  lately  passed  feasting  my 
eyes  on  scenes  of  beauty  never  conceived  before,  I  know  how  lazy 
one  man  at  least  would  surely  be. 

I  am  not  sure  that  you  will  not  charge  me  with  being  the  prophet 
of  the  millennium  of  the  political  economist,  a  period  when  moderate 
industry  and  intelligence  will  assure  so  comfortable  a  shelter  and  so 
good  a  subsistence  that  it  won't  pay  to  be  rich. 

The  millennium  I  am  very  sure  3*011  will  reach  long  ere  we  do  who 
dwell  amid  the  granite  and  ice  of  New  England. 

But,  while  we  shall  rejoice  in  your  welfare  and  share  in  it  in  the 
indissoluble  bonds  of  common  interests  by  which  this  nation  is  now 
held,  we  shall  not  envy  you. 

Our  own  old  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  is  dearer  to  her  sons 


29 

than  any  other  land  however  fair  to  see ;  and  under  the  stimulus  of 
her  harsher  climate,  with  the  sharp  bite  of  the  east  wind  between  our 
teeth,  we  shall  strive  with  you  to  see  which  shall  send  forth  the  truest 
men.  Let  me  close  this  address,  which  touches  so  many  points  and 
works  its  devious  way  through  so  many  channels,  by  recalling  to 
your  minds  the  words  of  one  of  the  oldest  English  poets  :  — 

"  Man  is  his  own  star,  and  the  soul  that  can 
Render  an  honest  and  a  perfect  man 
Defies  all  time,  all  influence,  all  fate; 
Nothing  to  him  falls  early  or  too  late ; 
His  acts  his  angels  are,  or,  good  or  ill, 
The  fateful  shadows  that  walk  by  him  still." 

I  thank  you,  gentlemen,  for  the  attention  you  have  accorded  me* 
May  I  be  permitted  to  add  a  few  words,  not  on  party  politics,  but  on 
the  higher  questions  that  make  and  unmake  parties?  [Cries  of 
"Good,  good."] 

I  have  claimed  to  be  a  Republican  of  Republicans,  because,  from 
the  time  I  came  to  man's  estate,  and  even  before,  I  had  opposed 
slavery,  —  not  only  because  I  thought  it  morally  and  politically  wrong, 
but  even  more  because  I  considered  it  the  greatest  economic  blunder 
under  which  a  State  could  suffer. 

During  one  of  the  last  months  of  the  civil  war  I  happened  to  visit 
the  camp  near  Washington,  in  which  the  deserters  from  Petersburg 
and  Richmond  were  daily  collecting  in  increasing  numbers.  I  talked 
with  many  of  them,  and  found  them  to  be  mostly  veteran  soldiers 
who  had  fought  on  the  Confederate  side  from  the  beginning.  At  last 
I  asked  a  soldier  from  Louisiana  —  a  vigorous,  intelligent-looking 
man  —  why  he  had  surrendered.  His  black  eyes  gleamed  with  sub- 
dued passion,  as  he  replied,  "  I  have  just  found  out  what  we  have 
been  lighting  for."  —  "  What  was  it?  "  said  I.  "  Fighting  for  rich 
men's  niggers,  G- —  d —  'em  !  I  won't  fight  for  them  any  longer." 

When  I  heard  these  words,  gentlemen,  I  saw  before  me  a  vision  of 
the  prosperity  on  which  you  have  just  entered  in  the  land  of  the  sunn}r 
South.  I  knew  then  that  no  longer  would  white  and  black  alike  be 
kept  in  the  bonds  of  poverty  and  ignorance  in  order  that  the  few 
might  live  in  luxury  on  what  they  had  not  earned.  It  was  that  man's 
insight  into  the  cause  of  the  war  that  marked  its  end. 

That  time  of  prosperity  has  come  ;  and  you,  gentlemen,  are  my 
witnesses  that  never  has  the  general  welfare  of  the  people  of  Georgia 
been  as  great  as  in  this  last  year  of  abundance,  and  that  never  before 
has  there  been  open  to  you  such  an  opportunity  to  accumulate  wealth 
as  now  appears  in  your  near  future :  but  this  new  wealth  will  be  of 
that  highest  type  gained  by  rightful  methods,  in  which  each  dollar 
that  any  man  passes  to  his  own  credit  on  his  business  ledger  will 
mark  a  dollar's  worth  of  service  that  he  has  rendered  to  his  fellow- 
men. 

I  have  claimed  also  to  be  a  Democrat  of  Democrats  upon  the 
ground  that  only  those  are  entitled  to  the  name  who  fully  accept  th.Q 


30 

rule  that  every  man,  be  he  rich  or  poor,  black  or  white,  has  an  equal 
stake  in  righteous  government.  The  rich  man  has  no  greater  claim 
to  influence  merely  because  he  possesses  wealth,  than  the  poor  man 
because  he  desires  to  attain  it,  except  so  far  as  in  the  attainment  of 
his  property  he  has  gained  an  honest  influence  over  others.  The  best 
reason  that  could  have  been  assigned  for  the  change  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  State  of  South  Carolina  when  Wade  Hampton  was  chosen 
was  given  me  by  an  old  negro  whom  I  met  at  the  Capitol  in  Columbia 
a  few  months  after  the  change,  of  which  I  asked  him  the  reason : 
"De  reason,  boss,"  said  he,  "  de  reason  is  dat  you  can't  put 
ign'ance  ober  intelligence,  and  make  it  stay."  [Applause.] 

Gentlemen,  when  you  trust  fully  in  the  democratic  principle  that 
every  man  is  entitled  to  one  vote,  and  when  no  man  fears  to  have 
that  vote  counted,  there  will  be  less  danger  of  the  continued  control 
of  ignorance  over  intelligence  than  there  is  when  resort  is  had  to  any 
other  method  ;  and  only  when  such  is  the  rule  will  free  institutions  be 
fully  established. 

The  exhibition  that  you  propose  to  bring  into  existence  here  will 
be  but  an  example  of  the  industrial  forces  that  are  pervading  this 
whole  land,  but,  in  more  marked  degree  than  elsewhere,  your  own 
State  and  your  own  section  of  this  land.  Here  is  the  place  where 
poor  men  can  most  easily  establish  themselves  on  small  farms  with 
least  hardship  and  quicker  remuneration  ;  but,  in  order  that  they  may 
come,  there  must  be  free  speech,  free  schools,  a  free  press,  and  the 
right  of  private  judgment  without  prejudice  or  social  isolation. 

In  fact,  what  is  needed  now,  and  what  is  growing  fast,  is  the  sense 
of  national  existence.  Where  is  the  leader  at  whose  trumpet-call 
the  great  parly  of  the  nation  will  arise?  Look  for  your  analogy 
in  the  very  art  to  which  our  attention  has  been  devoted.  In  the 
kingdom  of  cotton  there  is  no  solid  South,  no  solid  North  ;  but  each 
member  of  the  kingdom  is  dependent  upon  all  the  rest.  The  art  begins 
with  the  field-hand  who  first  stirs  the  soil  and  plants  the  seed,  and 
ends  only  when  the  finished  goods  are  placed  upon  the  shelves  of 
those  who  distribute  them.  Each  member  of  the  craft  depends  upon 
all ;  and  the  whole  structure  of  societ}7,  North  and  South,  is  twisted 
into  the  strand  and  interwoven  in  the  web  that  constitutes  the 
product  of  the  cotton  field  and  of  the  cotton  mill. 

So  also,  in  the  art  of  government,  all  interests  are  harmonious.  In 
the  question  of  good  mone}* ;  in  that  of  equal  and  just  taxation, 
whether  under  an  excise  law  or  a  tariff  act ;  in  assuring  integrity  and 
efficiency  in  office  ;  in  peace,  order,  and  industry,  —  there  is  no  North, 
no  South,  no  East,  no  West :  but  in  both  existing  parties,  and  in  all 
sections,  there  are  different  minds,  different  motives,  and  different 
methods  proposed  to  attain  these  ends.  These  are  the  great  ques- 
tions of  the  future,  on  which  the  welfare  of  all  depends,  without  dis- 
tinction of  section,  race,  or  party,  as  parties  now  exist. 

When  the  great  national  party  arises  in  its  might,  and  calls  for  its 

recruits  upon  all  parties  and  all  sections,  then  will  right-minded  men 

,  of  every  State,  North  or  South,  unite  in  its  support;  and  these  great 


31 

living  questions  of  the  present  and  of  the  future  will  take  the  place 
of  the  dead  issues  of  the  past.  God  grant  that  day  is  not  far 
distant  ! 

It  is  because  I  believe  this  exhibition  will  greatly  promote  a  closer 
political  union,  and  bring  into  most  prominent  view  the  identity  of 
interests  of  the  different  sections  of  this  country,  that  I  feel  the 
greatest  interest  in  its  being  undertaken  ;  and  it  is  for  the  reason 
that  I  hold  this  conviction  that  I  have  introduced  into  this  address 
the  allusions  to  the  past  and  to  the  political  aspects  of  the  present 
and  the  future,  which  might  otherwise  be  considered  out  of  place. 

I  have  endeavored  to  treat  the  great  industrial  question  as  one  not 
in  the  least  degree  depending  upon  our  present  party  divisions  or  par- 
tisan politics.  The  subjects  we  are  now  considering  are  above  politics  : 
they  are  the  elements  of  political  science  which  control  men  and  make 
parties. 

It  is  one  of  the  plainest  facts  to  one  who  comes  among  you  simply 
as  a  student  of  events,  and  who  addresses  you  with  no  reference  to  the 
pending  election,  that  your  solid  South  is  being  rent  by  forces  that  will 
bring  right-minded  men  of  the  South  into  zealous  co-operation  with 
like-minded  men  of  the  North  ;  that  your  future  leaders  will  be  those 
whose  interests  are  in  the  living  present  ;  and  that  your  own  dead  past 
will  bury  its  dead.  [Applause.]  We  can  see  more  clearly  than  you 
can  yourselves  that  the  color  line  is  fading  away  ;  that  if  any  city, 
county,  or  State  attempts  to  deny  to  any  man,  black  or  white,  the 
right  to  speak,  act,  and  vote  as  he  pleases,  that  section  is  becoming 
poor.  Emigrants  shun  it,  self-respecting  white  laborers  leave  it,  and 
its  colored  laborers  remain  only  until  they  can  get  means  to  move 


We  see  other  sections  of  your  Southern  land  that  are  more  wise, 
where  the  black  man  is  permitted  to  have  the  white  man's  chance; 
where  schools  are  maintained  and  justice  is  assured  :  and  these  sec- 
tions are  becoming  rich  and  prosperous.  For  such  examples  one  need 
not  go  bej'ond  Atlanta  and  Chattanooga.  One  need  only  to  illustrate 
the  process  to  which  I  have  referred  by  one  of  man}'  cases  that  I  could 
>cite  where  the  negro  farmer  who  had  migrated  from  one  State  where 
he  was  abused  to  another  where  he  was  trusted,  and,  in  the  second 
year  from  that  time,  received  from  a  banker  an  advance  of  one  thousand 
dollars  on  the  cotton  crop  that  he  and  his  children  had  made,  and  used 
the  money  to  pay  for  the  land  that  he  had,  hired. 

More  potent  than  prejudice  or  passion  these  great  forces  slowly  but 
•surely  work.  The}7  may  be  retarded,  but  cannot  be  stopped.  Liberty 
and  justice  shall  surely  govern  this  fair  land. 

Steadfast  in  truth  and  right 

This  Nation  still  shall  be  ; 

"  Good,  great,  and  joyous,  beautiful  and  free: 

This  is  alone  life,  joy,  empire,  or  victory." 

[Warm   and    continued    applause.]     Such  is  always  the  imperative 
law  :  no  man's  property  is  safe,  and  no  man's  welfare  is  assured,  where 


32 

justice  is  denied  to  the  poor,  or  where  crime  goes  unpunished  ;  no  State 
can  prosper,  however  rich  the  land  or  varied  the  resources,  where 
human  rights  are  not  respected.  If  States  cannot  or  do  not  govern 
themselves  justty,  and  accord  an  equal  chance  to  all  their  citizens, 
their  influence  in  the  counsels  of  the  nation  must  be  small  indeed. 
But  wherever  I  have  been  I  find  great  changes  have  been  made,  and 
these  great  forces  working,  —  on  all  your  lines  of  railroad  new  enter- 
prise, thrift,  and  energy,  towns  increasing  and  cities  growing  ;  and,  as 
I  have  said,  the  color  line  is  fading  in  these  places,  whatever  may  be 
the  case  in  the  interior.  I  trust  the  progress  I  have  noted  where  I 
have  been  may  be  but  the  symbol  of  other  districts  and  other  States. 
If  it  is  not,  none  know  the  facts  as  well  as  you  yourselves,  and  none 
can  assure  the  remedy  except  }Tourselves.  By  your  own  acts  3*011  shall 
be  justified  ;  and,  when  the  end  is  reached,  what  grander  chapter  in  his- 
tory will  ever  have  been  recorded  than  that  which  is  being  now 
written  ? 

I  had  read  the  Scripture  where  it  is  written  that  men  should  con- 
vert their  swords  into  ploughshares  arid -their  spears  into  pruning-hooks  ; 
but  in  3'our  neighboring  city  of  Chattanooga  I  also  saw  the  battery 
that  had  belched  forth  fire  and  death  converted  into  a  fountain  of 
living  water.1 

As  you  convert  the  darkness  of  oppression  and  slavery  to  liberty 
and  justice,  so  shall  }rou  be  judged  by  men  and  by  Him  who  created 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  address,  after  the  hearty  applause  had  sub- 
sided, Mr.  S.  M.  Inman  offered  the  following  :  — 

"Resolved,  That  the  cordial  thanks  of  the  citizens  of  Georgia,  who  are  now 
assembled  in  the  Capitol,  be  presented  to  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson  of  Boston, 
Mass.,  for  his  very  able  and  interesting  address  on  the  cultivation  and  man- 
ufacture of  cotton,  and  the  influences  resulting  thereupon." 

Mr.  Inman  supported  the  resolution  in  a  handsome  effort,  and  it  wa& 
unanimously  adopted. 

Mr.  H.  I.  Kimball  offered  a  resolution  requesting  a  copy  of  the 
address  for  publication,  which  was  unanimously  adopted. 

Mr.  Atkinson  stated,  that  if  he  had  erred  in  any  of  his  statements 
in  the  address  in  an}7  way,  shape,  or  form,  he  would  esteem  it  as  a 
personal  favor  if  any  one  would  correct  it. 

Mr.  Atkinson  was  warmly  congratulated  by  Governor  Colquitt, 
ex-Governor  Bullock,  Messrs.  S.  M.  and  W.  P.  Inman,  H.  I. 
Kimball,  and  the  audience  generally  who  had  enjoyed  the  address. 

1  One  of  the  Confederate  forts  at  Chattanooga  now  serves  as  a  reservoir  to 
supply  the  city  with  water;  another  supplies  the  great  iron- works  established 
since  the  war  at  that  place  by  one  of  the  Northern  carpet-baggers,  "  who  carried 
his  trunk  and  staid,"  and  who  was  himself  a  leader  in  thirteen  great  battles  near 
that  city  by  which  it  was  redeemed  from  the  bondage  of  slavery  and  opened  to- 
the  great  forces  of  liberty. 


APPENDIX. 


THE  following  communication,  recently  printed  in  "The  Planters' 
Journal,"  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  may  add  something  to  the  interest  of  this 
pamphlet. 

E.  A. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  Planters1  Journal,  Vicksburg,  Miss. 

My  recent  conversation  with  you  upon  the  subject  of  the  proposed 
cotton  exhibition  and  the  objects  thereof,  induces  me  to  present  cer- 
tain points  to  the  members  of  the  Planters'  Association,  which  do  not 
appear  to  be  well  understood. 

It  seems  to  be  assumed,  that,  because  cotton  is  sold  at  a  certain  price 
per  pound  for  the  gross  weight  of  the  bale,  therefore  the  bagging, 
iron  hoops,  and  sand  are  sold  at  the  full  price  of  cotton.  There  could 
not  be  a  greater  delusion. 

When  the  cotton  reaches  Europe,  the  allowance  made  for  tare  is  a 
little  more  than  enough  to  compensate  for  the  bags  and  ropes,  the  lit- 
tle more  constituting  a  sort  of  guaranty  or  insurance  against  the  risk. 

In  respect  to  the  cotton  used  in  the  United  States,  a  careful  account 
is  kept  at  every  factory  of  the  amount  of  waste  from  bagging,  hoops, 
sand,  and  heavy  waste  ;  and  care  is  taken  not  to  repeat  purchases  in 
places  that  appear  to  be  subject  to  any  excessive  waste  from  these 
causes. 

If  a  careful  computation  be  made,  extending  over  a  series  of  years, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  average  price  paid  in  Liverpool  for  cotton,  at 
net  weight  (tare  having  been  allowed  for  bagging  and  hoops),  is  as 
much  higher  than  the  price  in  New  York  for  cotton  at  gross  weight, 
as  will  compensate  for  the  tare,  the  freight,  the  insurance,  and  other 
charges. 

If  cotton  were  sold  in  New  Orleans,  with  an  allowance  for  tare 
equal  to  the  weight  of  the  bags  and  hoops,  the  price  would  be  advanced 
in  just  the  same  proportion,  or  a  little  more. 

In  point  of  fact,  what  is  paid  for  is  the  fibre  that  is  worked  into 
cloth,  and  nothing  else.  If  the  packing  of  the  fibre  is  bad,  a  less  price 
is  paid  for  the  contents  of  the  bale  than  would  be  paid  for  the  same 
contents  properly  packed,  because  all  bad  packages  imply  a  risk  of  loss 
to  the  consumer  ;  and  the  consumer  is,  in  the  long  run,  perfectly  sure 
to  get  such  an  abatement  on  the  price  he  would  otherwise  pay  as  will 
cover  the  waste,  and  a  little  more  as  a  guaranty. 

Every  consumer  will  pay  a  higher  net  price  for  an  article  so  packed 
as  to  make  him  absolutely  sure  of  the  quantity  and  value  of  the  stock 
that  he  receives,  than  he  will  for  one  so  packed  that  he  is  not  certain. 

The  present  barbarous  method  of  packing  American  cotton  costs  the 
cotton-grower,  in  my  judgment,  from  one  to  five  per  cent  on  the  whole 
crop. 


34 

One  per  cent  is  the  minimum  for  the  guaranty  against  an  excess  of 
bags  and  hoops,  and  five  per  cent  would  not  be  excessive  as  a  guaran- 
ty against  the  loss  on  sandy  and  dusty  cotton. 

That  is  to  say,  if  all  cotton,  middling  and  above,  were  packed  in 
clean  sacks,  held  by  light  wires,  and  kept  free  from  dust,  rain,  and' 
mud  (tare  being  allowed  for  the  bags  and  wires  used) ,  the  producer 
would  receive  an  additional  price  equal  to  the  tare,  and  also  from  one 
to  three  per  cent  more  mone}'  for  each  bale  than  he  is  now  receiving ; 
and,  if  all. cotton  below  middling,  thus  graded  because  of  leaf,  dust, 
and  sand,  were  properly  treated  in  the  gin-house,  the  cotton-grower 
would  net  two  to  five  per  cent  for  each  bale  more  than  he  now  gets. 

The  above  estimates  are  based  upon  continuing  the  present  mode 
of  ginning,  the  present  construction  of  gins  and  presses,  and  the  pres- 
ent method  of  baling,  except  a  substitution  of  wire  for  hoop-iron. 
That  is  to  say,  the  value  of  the  cotton  crop  to  the  producers  can  be 
increased  two  to  five  per  cent  without  any  fundamental  changes,  but 
only  by  such  care  and  attention  to  present  methods  as  reasonable 
economy  would  call  for. 

But  there  is  a  very  much  greater  saving  within  the  reach  of  the 
Southern  cotton-grower,  —  one  that  would  add  not  less  than  ten  percent 
to  the  value  of  the  crop,  but  not  at  the  cost  of  the  consumer.  If  that 
part  of  the  manufacture  which  must  be  done  where  the  cotton  is  grown, 
were  done  in  a  skilful  and  suitable  manner,  the  consumers  would  savey 
in  the  labor  of  converting  cotton  into  cloth,  all  that  the  producers 
gained  in  the  price  of  cotton. 

To  state  this  point  in  the  most  incisive  way,  I  will  venture  the  as- 
sertion that  the  greater  part  of  the  American  cotton  crop  is  deterio- 
rated, and  its  value  reduced  ten  per  cent  between  the  time  it  is  picked 
in  the  field,  and  the  time  when  it  is  turned  out  from  the  compress  to  be 
shipped  abroad  or  to  the  North. 

The  smaller  portion,  ginned  in  large  establishments,  carefully  man- 
aged, under  good  discipline,  is  probably  as  well  handled  and  as  free 
from  deterioration  as  is  consistent  with  the  present  mode  of  ginning 
and  baling ;  but,  as  compared  with  the  treatment  which  the  cotton  re- 
ceives after  it  reaches  the  factory,  the  whole  crop  is  badly  treated  in 
the  South,  and  the  larger  part  of  the  crop  very  badly. 

In  order  that  this  point  may  be  fully  comprehended,  it  is  necessary 
to  consider  the  work  that  is  done  in  the  factory  to  prepare  cotton  for 
the  process  of  spinning. 

The  bale  of  cotton  reaches  the  mill  after  having  been  subjected  to 
excessive  compression.  This  compression  does  not  apparently  injure 
the  fibre  ;  but  it  makes  it  much  more  difficult  to  remove  dirt,  leaf, 
motes,  and  other  trash,  than  if  the  fibre  had  been  subjected  to  a  suit- 
able treatment  immediately  after  leaving  the  gin,  when  it  was -in  the 
lightest  or  most  open  condition. 

In  the  picker-room  of  the  cotton  factory,  the  bale  of  cotton  is  sub- 
jected — 

First,  To  the  action  of  an  opener  to  lighten  it  up  and  overcome  the 
effect  of  compression. 


35 

Second,  It  is  passed  through  the  breaker  lapper  or  picker,  to  re- 
move seed,  sand,  and  heavy  dirt.  This  machine  usually  contains  two, 
sometimes  three  metal  beaters,  revolving  at  a  speed  of  twelve  to  six- 
teen hundred  times  per  minute.  The  blades  of  the  beaters  move  four 
thousand  to  six  thousand  feet  per  minute. 

Third,  It  is  passed  through  the  finisher  lapper  or  picker,  con- 
taining two,  sometimes  three  beaters,  to  complete  the  work  of  clean- 
ing and  make  a  lap  suitable  for  the  first  card. 

In  England  the  method  sometimes  varies  from  thisj  the  cotton  being 
passed  through  a  succession  of  three  machines,  each  containing  one 
beater. 

Combined  in  or  with  these  machines  are  numerous  devices  or  ap- 
paratus to  aid  in  the  removal  of  the  dirt,  consisting  either  of  mechani- 
cal appliances,  or  long  trunks  with  grates  or  grids  at  the  bottom, 
through  which  the  cotton  is  blown,  the  dirt  sifting  out  and  passing 
through  the  grids  into  a  trough,  from  which  it  is  removed. 

After  the  process  of  preparation,  the  cotton  is  usually  carded  twice 
in  this  country  ;  in  England  once,  but  on  a  larger  card.  The  true  ob- 
ject of  carding  is  to  lay  the  fibres  parallel,  and  to  remove  short  or 
imperfect  fibre.  The  card  is  not  the  machine  that  ought  to  be  greatly 
relied  upon  for  the  removal  of  motes ;  but,  in  point  of  fact,  a  large 
quantity  of  motes  and  leaf  pass  the  most  effective  systems  of  opening 
and  picking,  and  are  partly  removed  upon  the  card. 

Now,  let  it  be  observed  that  each  one  of  these  processes  does  more 
or  less  injury  to  the  cotton  fibre.  Every  beater  weakens  the  staple. 
Every  inch  of  carding  beyond  what  is  needed  to  lay  the  fibres  parallel 
ought  to  be  avoided.  Let  it  be  further  observed,  that  a  single  treat- 
ment at  the  right  place  will  remove  substantially  all  the  immature 
seed  that  has  passed  the  grids  of  the  cotton  gin,  all  the  sand,  and  all 
the  heavy  waste.  Let  it  be  noted  that  the  multiplication  of  beaters, 
and  the  excess  of  carding,  are  for  the  purpose  of  removing  motes,  leaf, 
shives,  and  other  light  particles  of  trash  that  make  specky  cloth.  Then 
bear  in  mind  that  a  very  large  portion  of  these  motes  get  into  the  cot- 
ton in  the  gin-house,  or  from  the  dust  and  dirt  that  blow  about  it,  or 
from  the  coarse  bagging  put  upon  the  cotton,  or  from  the  mud  and 
dust  to  which  the  bales  are  exposed.  Let  all  these  points  be  considered, 
and  my  statement  will  not  appear  extravagant,  that  the  larger  portion 
of  every  cotton  crop  is  depreciated  ten  per  cent  for  want  of  skill  and 
care  in  the  primary  treatment,  which  primaty  processes  constitute  the 
most  important  branch  of  the  cotton  manufacture.  . 

It  is  often  said  that  cotton  well  ginned  is  half  carded,  and  cotton 
well  carded  is  half  spun. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  possibility  of  the  cotton -growers  adding  a 
cent  a  pound  to  the  value  of  the  larger  part  of  the  cotton  crop,  and 
not  at  the  cost  of  the  consumer,  but  by  the  saving  of  waste. 

The  advantage  to  the  consumer  would  be  in  part  only  the  reduc- 
tion in  the  cost  of  picking  and  carding,  but  mainly  in  the  greater 
strength  of  the  yarn,  and  therefore  a  greatly  increased  product  in 
spinning  and  weaving. 


36 

I  have  stated  that  the  right  point  to  treat  cotton  for  the  removal 
of  all  heav}'  waste  and  a  large  portion  of  the  motes  gathered  with  the 
cotton  in  the  field  is  when  the  cotton  leaves  the  gin,  and  before  it  has 
been  condensed  or  compressed  in  any  manner.  How  this  should  be 
done  is  a  question  to  be  settled  by  experience.  It  may  be  accom- 
plished by  a  slow-moving  single  beater,  by  what  is  called  a  preparer, 
or  by  blowing  the  cotton  through  a  trunk  furnished  with  grids. 

A  large  portion  of  the  work  will  be  accomplished  by  keeping  the 
motes  out  of  the  cotton  that  now  infest  it  in  the  gin-house,  cotton 
press,  and  yard.  * 

If  these  motes,  consisting  of  bits  of  leaf,  boll,  and  trash  from  the 
field,  dust  and  trash  from  the  gin-house,  and  dirt  fiom  the  bags,  levee, 
or  3Tard,  were  kept  out  or  taken  out,  there  would  be  no  material  dif- 
ference in  the  weight  of  the  bale.  This  is  not  the  stuff  that  adds 
weight,  and  the  labor  and  treatment  of  the  cotton  in  the  picker  and 
card  room  of  the  factory  could  be  reduced  one-half  at  the  very  least. 

One  beater,  or  its  equivalent,  applied  to  the  removal  of  motes  as 
the  cotton  is  delivered  from  the  gin,  before 'compression,  would  be  as 
effective  as  two  beaters  after  compression  ;  and  one  carding  applied  to 
clean  and  well-ginned  cotton,  carefully  baled,  and  kept  clean  after 
baling,  would  be  as  effective  as  double  carding  applied  to  the  average 
of  the  cotton  as  now  delivered.  By  reducing  the  number  of  beaters, 
and  reducing  the  carding  to  the  simple  purpose  of  straightening  fibres, 
a  larger  quantity  of  stronger  yarn  would  be  produced  to  each  spindle, 
and  every  loom  could  be  speeded  higher  with  less  imperfect  work. 

Another  very  great  advantage  in  the  cleaning  of  the  cotton  im- 
mediately after  it  has  passed  the  gin,  and  before  compression,  would 
be  the  removal  of  the  almost  impalpable  sand  or  dust  that  infests  the 
cotton  grown  on  many  soils,  and  that  causes  injury  to  the  machinery 
of  the  cotton  factory,  especially  to  the  cards. 

In  this  connection,  let  me  again  call  the  attention  of  planters  to 
the  expediency  of  investigating  the  merits  of  the  Ralston  trash-cleaner, 
and  other  machinery  of  like  kind,  in  which  very  dirty  cotton  is  sub- 
jected to  the  action  of  beaters  before  the  fibre  has  been  removed  from 
the  seed.  The  seed  with  the  fibre  attached  having  greater  specific 
gravity  than  the  dirt,  motes,  or  trash  that  are  mixed  with  the  fibre,  is 
carried  by  the  action  of  the  beater  away  from  the  trash  detached  by 
its  action,  and  the  trash  falls  behind  into  the  receptacles  prepared  to 
catch  it.  I  have  never  seen  the  machine,  but  the  theory  is  unques- 
tionably right. 

In  my  previous  communications  I  have  said  that  the  cotton  manu- 
facture is  a  unit:  it  begins  on  the  field,  and  ends  in  the  cloth-room 
of  the  factory.  The  most  important  part  of  this  manufacture  must 
be  carried  on  near  the  field,  and  is  the  process  treated  in  this  paper. 

If  the  South  desires  to  enter  upon  the  safest,  surest,  and  most 
profitable  branch  of  cotton  manufacturing  in  which  the  largest  re- 
sults can  be  reached  with  the  least  expenditure  of  capital,  it  will  do 
well  to  consider  these  suggestions. 

EDWARD   ATKINSON. 


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